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Book _^5l_ 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Hymns and Poetry of 
the Eastern Church 



Collected and Chronologically Arranged 

By 
BERNHARD PICK 




NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & GRAHAM 






|L|BRARY of 00N68ESS| 

Two Copies Me 

i FEB 25 J 908 

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■ tfuiSS A AAc. No. 



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Copyright, 1908, by 
EATON & MAINS. 



Contenta 

PAGE 

PREFACE 7 

EARLY ANONYMOUS HYMNS: 

Morning Hymn (A<S£a Iv vi|/£<ttois 0«<p) 15 

Evening Hymn (AIvcitc, iraiScs) 17 

A Hymn at Lamplight (#«s IXapdv) 17 

A Prayer at Dinner Table (EvXo-yiiTos et) 18 

The Psalm of the Naassenes (N6p,os tjv -ycviicds) 19 

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 20 

Bridle of untamed colts ) ,y ,. . 

Shepherd of tender youth ) 

METHODIUS 25 

The Bridegroom cometh ("AvwOev, irap0£vot) 27 

GREGORY OF NAZIANZEN 33 

Hymn to Christ (Se tov o,<|>9itov) 34 

Hymn to God ("ft irdvTwv circKciva) . T 36 

Hymn to Christ on Easter Day (XpiorT€ ava|) 38 

To His Own Soul (T£ <rot 0&€is) 40 

A Morning Prayer ("OpOpios 8(8«fj.i) 46 

A Hymn at Night ('Et|r€v<r£|i.i)v «"«)• ■ • 46 

An Evening Hymn (S« Kal vvv) 47 

Admonitory Address to a Virgin (Ilap0€v€ vvp.<|>Ti)... ... 48 

To Himself (IIov SI \6yoi) 57 

SYNESIUS 58 

Hymn to the Deity CA76 poi, \iyeia) 60 

Again we hail the opening morn (IldXiv iptyyos) 67 

Lift up thyself, my soul ("A-y* p.oi, t|n>x°0 70 

To Thee at evening gray (2k p.€v apxoplvas) 70 

Awake, our lute, the Child to sing ( " Yp.vwp.ev Kovpov 

vvpx|>as) 71 

3 



4 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Thee, with the holy self-sprung Fount, we sing (Mcrd 

irayas d-y(as) 73 

O my deathless, O my blessed (IIp»Tos vdfiov €vpop,av). 75 

O ! 'tis no theme of common things OYwd Swpiov dpp,o*ydv) 76 

Well-beloved and glory-laden (IIoXv^paTc, kv8i|«) 78 

Christ the Son (Mvc&eo XpurW) 80 

EPHRAEM THE SYRIAN 81 

On the Nativity of Our Lord 86 

Epiphany 87 

On Palm Sunday 88 

The Children in Paradise. . 89 

On the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem .... 90 

Lament of a Father on the Death of His Little Son . . 91 

Christ the Companion of the Disembodied Soul 92 

Sabbath Hymn 94 

Battle Song Against Satan 96 

On the Death of Children 98 

ANATOLIUS 99 

Evening Hymn (Ttjv Tjplpav SieXBwv) 102 

For Christmas (M£yct ical irapdSo£ov 8avp,a) 103 

In Bethlehem ('Ev B^Xc^i) 104 

For Saint Stephen's Day (T» {3a.o-i.Xc? Kal SccnrdTfl) 105 

On Christ Calming the Storm (Zo<j>cpds TpiKvpias) 105 

ANDREW OF CRETE 106 

A Eucharistic Hymn (Td p.£ya p,v<rr^piov) 107 

For Palm Sunday ('Itjo-ovs vircp tov Kdo-p.ov) 108 

Christian ! dost thou see them ((W \dp pXiiras tovs Tapd-r- 

rovTas ) 109 

The first of all apostles (Tdv ev irpojJ^Tcus) no 

JOHN OF DAMASCUS m 

The wonder-working Master ("Eo-ghtc Xaov, 0avp.a,TovpY»v) 112 

Our hymns receive, Redeemer (Ncvorov irpos vjxvovs) 113 

Habakkuk in ancient song (rcvovs PpoTctov) 114 

'Tis the day of resurrection ( ' Avao-Tao-ews rip-cpa) 115 

Come, let us drink of that new river (Acvtc ir6|xa irfopcv) 116 

Stand on thy watchtower ('Eirl ttis OcCas 4>vXaicf\s) 116 



CONTENTS 5 

PAGE 

Let us rise in early morning ('OpOpCo-apev op9pov) 117 

Into the dim earth's lowest parts descending (KarqXOes 

€V TOIS) Il8 

Who from the fiery furnace saved the Three ('0 iratSas 

4k Kaptvov) 118 

Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise (Avn] tj kXij-Wj) . . 119 

Shine! shine! O new Jerusalem (#o>tC£ov, tptDTtgov) 120 

If the dark and awful tomb (Et Kal 4v Ta<pw) 131 

They who with Mary came (IlpoXaPbvcrat t6v 6'pGpov) . . 121 

The tuneful sound of music (2vp<p«vov i9p6r\<rtv) 122 

Into the fiery furnace flung (Avti to, Sco-pa) 123 

Jesu, give thy servants (Ta\€iav Kal <rra0T]pav 8C8ov) ... 124 

Take the last kiss ( Acvt« TtXevTaiov) 125 

With pain earth's joys are mingled (IloCa tov ptov rpvcprj) 129 
Let heaven rejoice, and earth be glad (Ev<ppaiv6r0tto-av 

ol ovpavol) 130 

ROMANUS 131 

Bethlehem hath opened Eden (Tt]v 'ESep B-rjdXeeu) 132 

COSMAS OF JERUSALEM 132 

Christ is born! Tell forth his fame! (Xpicrros *y€ wo/rat* 

So£a<raTe) 134 

Him, of the Father's very Essence (T<«> irpd r&v atwvcov) 134 

Rod of the Root of Jesse CP&p8os 4k t^s p£tn$) 136 

Father of Peace, and God of Consolation (0«os <5v ctprjvTjs) 137 
As Jonah, issuing from his three days' tomb (2irXaYXv«v 

'Iwvav) 138 

The Holy Children boldly stand (Ol watSes >vo-e|3e£a) . . . 138 
The dewy freshness that the furnace flings (OavpaTos 

vircp<pvovs) 139 

O wondrous mystery, full of passing grace ! (Mvo-Hjpiov 

£ivov) 140 

He who with His mighty hand (IIovtw €KdXw|/e) 141 

STEPHEN THE SABAITE 142 

Art thou weary, art thou languid (Koirov t€ Kal) 142 

THEOPHANES 143 

Adam's Complaint (O irXao-Ttjs pov Kvpios) 144 



6 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

THEODORE OP THE STUDIUM 146 

That fearful day, that day of speechless dread (Trjv fjplpav 

T1JV ^RlKTTJv) I46 

God comes; — and who shall stand before his fear? CO 

Kvpios €px«Tcu) 147 

The day is near, the judgment is at hand (*E<J>&m]K€v f| 

tj^'p 01 ) 1 48 

The Lord draws nigh, the righteous throne's Assessor 
fO Kvpios Ipx«Tai) 150 

The Lord, the Lord hath triumphed (XapwrHjpiov <p8rjv) 152 

METHODIUS I . 153 

Are thy toils and woes increasing ? (Ei Kal tA irapovTa) . 1 54 

JOSEPH OF THE STUDIUM 154 

Let our choir new anthems raise (T«v Up«v d0\o<p6puv) 155 

Jesus, Lord of Life eternal ('Ir]<rovs 6 £«o86ti]$) x 56 

Wafting Him up on high (^coTeivrjo-c, <p«s) 157 

Exalt, exalt, the heavenly gates ('EirdpaTe irvXds). ... 158 

Of twofold natures, Christ, the Giver (T6v kv 8v<rC Tals) 158 

After three days Thou didst rise ('Aveo-njs Tpitjpepos).. 159 

THEOCTISTUS OF THE STUDIUM 160 

Jesu, name all names above ('I^o-ov 'yXvkvtotc) 160 

METROPHANES OF SMYRNA 162 

O Unity of Threefold Light (TpicpcyyTis Movds) 162 

SIMEON METAPHRASTES 163 

O thou uncovered Corse, Word of the Living One. ... 163 

ANONYMOUS HYMNS OF THE LATER PERIOD: 

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ('I8ov 6 vvp<pio$ cpxeTeu) 164 

Christ, we sing thy saving Passion CYp.vovp.4v o-ov Xpurre) 165 

The sepulcher is holding (S^pepov o-vvex« Ta<pos) 166 

Let all mortal flesh keep silence (EiYTjo-d-rw irdca o~dpg). 167 

Christ, Mercy's holy River (£ls fotos iroTapos) 168 

Within the womb of Anna CO Wos ovpavds) 169 

O Saint, permitted here to see ('0 OcaTTjs t»v dpp^ro>v) . 171 

Mark, shining light of Egypt (Atyvirrov <pa>o~TT]p) 172 



preface 

There are collections of the sacred poetry of 
the Western Church, but very few, if any, of the 
Eastern Church. When Neale published in 1862 
his "Hymns of the Eastern Church," he stated in 
the preface of his translations: "These are liter- 
ally, I believe, the only English versions of any 
part of the treasures of Oriental hymnology. 
There is scarcely a first or second-rate hymn of 
the Roman Breviary which has not been trans- 
lated: of many we have six or eight versions. 
The eighteen quarto volumes of Greek Church 
poetry can only at present be known to the Eng- 
lish reader by my little book." Since that time 
other efforts have been made in that direction; 
and in presenting this volume to the lover of 
sacred poetry we fill a gap in the literature of 
hymnology. 

The present collection contains such hymns as 
were accessible in the English language to the 
compiler, including also fragments from the ear- 
liest Greek Christian poets and from Ephraem the 
Syrian; and in this respect it goes beyond the 
collection of Neale, which only contains speci- 
mens from Byzantine poets. 



8 PREFACE 

The sources which have been perused for the 
present collection are : 

Bonar: Hymns of the Early Church (in "Sunday 

at Home," London, 1878). 
Browning: Essays on the Greek Christian Poets 

and the English Poets. New York, 1864. 
Burgess: Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of 

Ephraem Syrus. London, 1853. 
[Charles, Mrs.]: The Voice of Christian Life in 

Song. New York, 1865. 
Chatfield: Songs and Hymns of the Earliest Greek 

Christian Poets. London, 1876. 
Julian: Dictionary of Hymnology. New York, 

1892. 
Neale: Hymns of the Eastern Church. London, 

1862. 
People's (The) Hymnal. London, 1871. 
Schaff: History of the Christian Church, vols. 

ii-iv. 
Shipley: Lyra Eucharistica. London, 1869. 
Shipley: Lyra Messianica. London, 1869. 
Shipley: Lyra Mystica. London, 1869. 

Greek hymns in the original are contained in 
Bassler: Auswahl altchristlicher Lieder (1858), 

pp. 153-166. 
Christ and Paranikas: Anthologia Graeca Car- 

minum Christianorum. Lipsiae, 1871. 
Daniel: Thesaurus Hymnologicus, iii (1855), 

which also contains (pp. 139-268) Syriac 

hymns. The hymns of Ephraem were edited 



PREFACE 9 

by Bickell (Leipzig, 1866), and in a German 
translation by C. Macke (Mayence, 1882). 

Our collection contains two kinds of anony- 
mous hymns : those belonging to the earlier period 
are given at the beginning; those of a later period, 
at the end. Between these the reader will find 
selections from eighteen poets. But these poets 
do not by far exhaust the list of hymn writers of 
sacred poetry. Mention is made of — 

Eudocia, the empress, wife of Theodosius II. 
She lived in the fifth century, rendered into Greek 
hexameters the Pentateuch and the Books of 
Joshua and Judges ; made a version of the prophet 
Zechariah and of the Book of Daniel, and wrote 
a poem in three books on Saint Cyprian and Saint 
Justina. "She wrote,' ' says Mrs. Browning, "only 
such Christian Greek poems as Christians and 
poets might rejoice to read, but which perished 
with her beauty, as being of one seed with it." 

Paulus Silentiarius, of the sixth century, the 
court poet, chiefly esteemed for his descriptive 
poem on the Byzantine Church of Saint Sophia. 

John Geornetra, of the seventh century, author 
of certain hymns to the Virgin Mary, "as accumu- 
lative of epithets and admirations as ten of her 
litanies, inclusive of a pious compliment, which, 
however geometrically exact in its proportions, 
sounds strangely" (Mrs. Browning). 

Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople in the 
reign of Heraclius (610-641), is supposed to be the 



io PREFACE 

author of a famous and favorite hymn akathistos 
(that is, a poem chanted while priest, and people 
were standing), in praise of Mary as the deliverer 
of Constantinople from the siege of the Persians 
(630). Considered as a poem — the original is 
given by Christ (p. 140, seq.) — the chief part of it 
is full of splendor; "but the worship of the Virgin, 
which is its raison d'etre, scarcely admits of its 
adaptation even partially in England." 

George Pisida, author of "Hexaemeron, " 
which is "rather a meditation or rhythmical 
speech upon the finished creation than a retro- 
spection of the six days; and also there is more 
of Plato in it than of Moses." He also wrote on 
the "Vanity of Life," which has much beauty and 
force, and from which Mrs. Browning quotes the 
following lines : 

"Some yearn to rule the state, to sit above, 
And touch the cares of hate as near as love; 
Some their own reason for tribunal take, 
And for all thrones the humblest prayers they make ; 
Some love the orator's vainglorious art, — 
The wise love silence and the hush of heart, — 
Some to ambition's spirit-curse are fain, 
That golden apple with a bloody stain; 
While some do battle in her face (more rife 
Of noble ends) and conquer strife with strife: 
And while your groaning tables gladden these, 
Satiety's quick chariot to disease, 
Hunger the w T ise man helps, to water, bread, 
And light wings to the dreams about his head. 



PREFACE ii 

The truth becomes presently obvious, that — 
The sage o'er all the world his scepter waves, 
And earth is common ground to thrones and graves." 

" Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem (629), cele- 
brated in Anacreontic meters the praises of Jesus, 
the apostles and martyrs. Some of his pieces 
stand first in the second part of Christ's work, 
which treats of the Byzantine poems (pp. 43-46, 
96-97). 

Maximus the Confessor (580-662), author of 
some hymns, three of which are given by Daniel 
(iii, pp. 97-103). Christ omits Maximus. 

Germanus (634-734), patriarch of Constanti- 
nople. He was one of the grandest among the 
defenders of the icons. He was present at the 
Synod of Constantinople in 712, which restored 
the Monothelite heresy ; but in after years he con- 
demned it. He was made patriarch of Constanti- 
nople in 715. In 730 he was driven from the see, 
not without blows, for refusing to yield to the 
iconoclastic emperor Leo the Isaurian. He died 
shortly afterward, at the age of one hundred 
years. His hymns are few. He wrote stanzas 
on Simeon the Stylite, on the prophet Elijah, on 
the decollation of John the Baptist, and a canon 
on the wonder-working image in Edessa. A few 
pieces of Germanus are given in Daniel, iii, p. 79; 
Christ, p. 98. 

Andrew Pyros wrote the praise of Peter and 
Paul (see Christ, p. 8^). 



12 PREFACE 

In addition to these we mention Ettas of Jeru- 
salem, (about 761); Tarasus, patriarch of Con- 
stantinople (died 806); Euthymius, known as 
Syncellus (died about 910), author of a peniten- 
tial canon on the Virgin Mary; Leo VI, or "the 
Philosopher" (886-917), author of detached stan- 
zas on the Resurrection, which "are better than 
might have been expected from an imperial 
author, and the troubler of the Eastern Church by 
a fourth marriage" (Neale) ; Orestes, bishop of 
Jerusalem (996-1012); Kasias; Nilus Xanihopulus; 
John Mauropus, metropolitan of Euchaita (died 
1060) ; Theodore Prodromus, the reputed author of 
"Christus Patiens," usually attributed to Gregory 
of Nazianzen; John Tzetza, to whom Doering in 
his "De tragcedia Christiana, quae inscribitur 
XpioTog Haoxw" (Barmen, 1864), ascribes the au- 
thorship of that tragedy; Manuel Phile, of the 
fourteenth century. 

With Mauropus, who belongs to the period of 
the decline and decay of Greek Church poetry, 
Greek hymnody well-nigh ceased. 

Newark, N. J. B. P. 



Ibpmns ant> poetry of tbe Eastern 
Cburcb 

From the synagogue the Church received her 
hymn book, the Psalter, and how deeply rooted it 
was in the consciousness of the Christians we 
learn, for example, from Theodoret in the fifth 
century, who says: "Of the other Scriptures, the 
generality of men know next to nothing ; but the 
Psalms you will find again and again repeated in 
private houses, in market places, in the streets, 
by those who have learned by heart, and who 
soothe themselves by their divine melody." And 
Saint Ambrose remarks: "When other parts of 
Scripture are used, there is such a noise of talking 
in the church that you cannot hear what is said; 
but when the Psalter is read, all are silent." 
There can be no doubt that at an early period 
other songs were added to the Psalter. Saint 
Paul speaks of "hymns and spiritual songs" in 
addition to "psalms," and the heathen governor 
of Asia Minor, the younger Pliny, writes to the 
Emperor Trajan in the year 107 that the perse- 
cuted Christians in that country were in the habit 
of meeting at daybreak and singing hymns to the 
praise of Christ as their God (carmen Christo quasi 

Deo dicere invicem secum). A disposition has 

13 



14 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

shown itself to find in rhythmical quotations 
which are not demonstrably taken from the Old 
Testament traces of primitive Christian songs; 
thus, for example, Eph. 5. 14: 

"Eyeipe, 6 tta&evduv, 

Kai avdara en tgjv ve/cpcov, 

/cat enupavoei 001 b Xptorog. 

But whatever these hymns and songs may have 
been, certain it is that the Greek Church long 
adhered almost exclusively to the Psalms of David, 
and it had, in opposition to heretical predilections, 
even a decided aversion to the public use of unin- 
spired songs. The fifty-ninth canon of the Coun- 
cil of Laodicea, about A. D. 360, prohibited the 
use of "private hymns," or, ISiutikoI tpafyoi, and 
the Council of Chalcedon in 451 continued this 
decree. On this account the Greek Church of the 
first six centuries produced nothing in the field of 
sacred poetry which has had permanent value or 
general use. If such hymns ever existed, the 
earliest are unfortunately lost. What is left are 
a few anonymous hymns (vpvoi adeonoroi.), which 
are probably very old, because mentioned in the 
"Apostolic Constitutions." But whatever their 
antiquity, these anonymous hymns "bear witness 
to a living communion of some human hearts with 
God, and are as such most precious, whether we 
regard them as carrying up the links of our faith 
to the first century, or as bringing down the faith 
and worship of the apostolic age to the fourth 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 15 

century" (Mrs. Charles, in "The Voice of Christian 
Life in Song," p. 23). 

Eari£ Bnongmous iHsmns 
I 

Morning Hymn 

This (v(j,vog kudivog) is found at the end of 
the Alexandrian Codex of the Bible, and in the 
Zurich Psalter, reprinted by Tischendorf in his 
"Monumenta Sacra inedita," 1869. It is also 
found at the end of vol. iii of Swete, "The Old 
Testament in Greek" (Cambridge, 1894). 

This hymn, commencing, A6|a kv vtyioroiq $e& 7 
an expansion of the doxology of the heavenly 
hosts, is mentioned in the "Apostolic Constitu- 
tions" (lib. vii, c. 47). Bonar renders it thus: 

Glory in the highest of God, 

And on earth peace, 

Among men well-pleasedness ! 

We praise thee, 

We bless thee, 

We worship thee, 

We glorify thee, 

We thank thee, 

Because of thy almighty glory. 

O Lord, heavenly King, 

O God, Father Almighty, 

O Lord, only begotten Son, 

Jesus Christ, 

And Holy Spirit ! 

O Lord God, 



16 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

O Lamb of God, 

Son of the Father, 

Who takest away the sins of the world, 

Pity us ! 

Who takest away the sins of the world, 

Receive this prayer of ours ! 

Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, 

Pity us ! 

For thou only art holy, 

Thou only art Lord, 

Jesus Christ, 

To the glory of the Father ! Amen. 

Each day I will bless thee, 

And I will praise thy name forever ; 

Yea, forever and forever ! 

Vouchsafe, O Lord, even this day, 
That we may be kept sinless. 

Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers ; 

Yea, blessed and glorified 

Be thy name forever. Amen ! 

Blessed art thou, O Lord, 

Teach me thy judgments ! 

Blessed art thou, O Lord, 

Teach me thy judgments ! 

O Lord, thou hast been a refuge to us 
From generation to generation ! 

1 have spoken, O Lord, pity me ! 

Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. 
O Lord, in thee have I taken refuge, 
Teach me to do thy will, 
O thou — for thou art my God. 

For with thee is the fountain of life, 

In thy light shall we see light. 

Extend thou thy mercy 

To those that know thee ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 17 

II 

Evening Hymn 

In the "Apostolic Constitutions" (lib. vii, c. 48) 
an evening hymn is mentioned, which commences, 
Alvelre, naldeg, and is rendered by Chatfield as 
follows : 

Praise the Lord, O ye his servants, 

Praise the name of the Lord; 

We praise thee, we hymn thee, we bless thee 

For thy great glory. 
O Lord the King, the Father of Christ, the Lamb without 
blemish, 

Who taketh away the sin of the world, 
To thee belongeth praise, to thee belongeth the hymn, to 
thee belongeth glory, 

The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 

Throughout all ages. Amen. 
Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O Lord, 

According to thy word, in peace: 
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, 
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and (to be) the glory of 
thy people Israel. 

Ill 

A Hymn at Lamplight 

Concerning this evening hymn, the vftvog kcmeQi- 

vog, or vfivog tov Xvxvucov, commencing, <f>c5c IXagbv, 

Bonar states that Saint Basil thus writes in his 

work on the Holy Spirit to Amphilochius (c. 29) : 

"It seemed good to our fathers to receive the 
2 



i8 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

light of evening not in silence, but with thanks- 
giving, as soon as it appeared. But who was the 
father (author) of these words of thanksgiving 
at the lighting of the lamps, we cannot say." 
The following is a free translation by Schaff: 
("History of the Christian Church," ii, p. 227) : 

Hail ! cheerful Light, of his pure glory poured, 
Who is th' Immortal Father, Heavenly, Blest, 

Holiest of Holies — Jesus Christ our Lord ! 
Now are we come to the Sun's hour of rest, 

The lights of evening round us shine, 

We sing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost divine ! 

Worthiest art thou at all times to be sung 

With undefiled tongue, 

Son of our God, Giver of life alone ! 

Therefore, in all the world, thy glories, Lord, we own. 



IV 
A Prayer at Dinner Table 

This is also found in the "Apostolic Constitu- 
tions" (lib. vii, c. 49), and commences, EvXoyrjTdg el. 
We give Chatfield's rendering: 

Thou art blessed, O Lord, who nourishest me from my 
youth, 

Who givest food to all flesh. 
Fill our hearts with joy and gladness, 
That at all times, having all sufficiency, 

We may abound to every good work 

In Christ Jesus our Lord : 
With whom to thee (be) glory, honor, and might, 

Forever and ever. Amen. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 19 

These were probably not the only hymns which 
were known at a very early period, for, as Schaff 
observes, an author toward the close of the 
second century could appeal against the Arte- 
monites to a multitude of hymns in proof of the 
faith of the Church in the divinity of Christ: 
"How many psalms and odes of the Christians 
are there not, which have been written from the 
beginning by believers, and which, in their the- 
ology, praise Christ as the Logos of God?" 

V 

The Psalm op the Naassenes 

NojiiOf r\v yeviKog 

This psalm, preserved by Origen ("Philoso- 
phumena," lib. v, c. 1), occupies the third place 
in the "Anthologia Grseca Carminum Christian- 
orum," ed. Christ and Paranikas. The transla- 
tion which we subjoin is by J. H. Macmahon in 
the "Ante-Nicene Library": 

The world's producing law was Primal Mind ; 
The next was Firstborn's outpoured Chaos ; 
And third, the soul received its law of toil 
Enriched therefore, with an aqueous form, 
With care o'erpowered it succumbs to death; 
Nay, holding away, it eyes the light, 
And now it weeps on misery flung ; 
Now it mourns, now it thrills with joy ; 
Now it waits, now it hears its doom ; 
Now it hears its doom, now it dies, 
And now ^ it leaves us, never to return. 



20 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

It, hapless straying, threads the maze of ills. 
But Jesus said, "Father, behold, 
A strife of ills across the earth 
Wanders from thy breath (of wrath), 
But bitter Chaos (man) seeks to shun, 
And knows not how to pass it through. 
On this account, O Father, send me ; 
Bearing seals, I shall descend; 
Through ages whole I'll sweep, 
And mysteries I'll unravel, 
And forms of God I'll show ; 
And secrets of the saintly path, 
Styled 'Gnosis/ I'll impart." 



The oldest Christian poem preserved to us, the 
authorship of which can be authoritatively traced, 
is from the pen of the profound Christian philos- 
opher 

Clement of Blejcanfcrta 

(Died about A. D. 217) 
This poem, which is found at the close of Clem- 
ent's "Paedagogue," is a sublime but somewhat 
turgid song of praise to the Logos, as the divine 
educator and leader of the "human race." The 
title of the hymn is "Yfivog rov awT^poc Xgiorov, 
that is, "Hymn of the Saviour Christ," and it 
addresses Christ as the leader of the youth, that 
he himself may gather them to praise him (verses 
1-8) ; then as the Shepherd and King of the 
saints, that he may guide his sheep and rule over 
them (verses 9-22); and, finally, as the Eternal 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 21 

Word, whose footsteps lead to heaven (verses 23- 
53). It was not intended for public worship, nor 
is it adapted for it — being written in dimeter 
anapestics ; but it is remarkable for its spirit and 
antiquity. 

We subjoin from Schaff ("History of the 
Christian Church,* * ii, p. 230) the following literal 
translation of this poem, commencing, Irdfitov 

Bridle of untamed colts, 
Wing of unwandering birds, 
Sure Helm of babes, 
Shepherd of royal lambs ! 
Assemble thy simple children, 
To praise holily, 
To hymn guilelessly 
With innocent mouths 
Christ, the guide of children. 

O King of saints, 

All-subduing Word 

Of the most high Father, 

Prince of wisdom, 

Support of sorrows, 

That rejoicest in the ages, 

Jesus, Saviour 

Of the human race, 

Shepherd, husbandman, 

Helm, Bridle, 

Heavenly wing 

Of the all holy flock, 

Fisher of men 

Who are saved, 



22 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Catching the chaste fishes 
With sweet life 
From the hateful wave 
Of a sea of vices. 

Guide [us], Shepherd 

Of rational sheep; 

Guide harmless children, 

O holy King. 

O footsteps of Christ, 

O heavenly way, 

Perennial Word, 

Endless age, 

Eternal Light, 

Fount of mercy, 

Performer of virtue, 

Noble [is the] life of those 

Who praise God, 

O Christ Jesus, 

Heavenly milk 

Of the sweet breasts 

Of the graces of the Bride, 

Pressed out of thy wisdom. 

Babes, nourished 

With tender mouths, 

Filled with the dewy spirit 

Of the spiritual breast, 

Let us sing together 

Simple praises, 

True hymns 

To Christ [the] King, 

Holy reward 

For the doctrine of life. 

Let us sing together, 

Sing in simplicity 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 23 

To the mighty Child, 
O choir of peace, 
The Christ begotten, 
O chaste people 
Let us praise together 
The God of peace. 

"This poem," says Schaff (1. c), "was for six- 
teen centuries merely a hymnological curiosity, 
until an American Congregational minister, Dr. 
Henry Dexter, of Boston, by a happy reproduc- 
tion, in 1846, secured it a place in modern hymn 
books. While preparing a sermon (as he informs 
me) on 'some prominent characteristics of the 
early Christians' (text, Deut. 32. 7, 'Remember 
the days of old'), he first wrote down an exact 
translation of the Greek hymn of Clement, and 
then reproduced and modernized it for the use of 
his congregation in connection with the sermon. 
It is well known that many psalms of Israel have 
inspired some of the noblest Christian hymns. 
The forty-sixth psalm gave the keynote of 
Luther's triumphant war-hymn of the Reforma- 
tion, 'Ein' feste Burg.' John Mason Neale dug 
from the dust of ages many a Greek and Latin 
hymn, to the edification of English churches, 
notably some portions of Bernard of Cluny's 'De 
Contemptu Mundi,' which runs through nearly 
three thousand dactylic hexameters, and fur- 
nished the material for 'Brief life is here our 



24 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

portion,' Tor thee, O dear, dear country/ and 
'Jerusalem the golden/ 

"We add Dexter's hymn as a fair specimen of a 
useful transfusion and rejuvenation of an old 

poem : 

"Shepherd of tender youth, 
Guiding in love and truth 
Through devious ways; 
Christ, our triumphant King, 
We come thy name to sing; 
Hither our children bring 
To shout thy praise ! 

"Thou art our holy Lord, 
The all-subduing Word, 

Healer of strife; 
Thou did'st thyself abase, 
That from sin's deep disgrace 
Thou mightest save our race, 

And give us life. 

"Thou art the great High Priest; 
Thou hast prepared the feast 

Of heavenly love; 
While in our mortal pain 
None calls on thee in vain; 
Help thou dost not disdain — 

Help from above. 

"Ever be thou our Guide, 
Our Shepherd and our Pride, 

Our Staff and Song! 
Jesus, thou Christ of God, 
By thy perennial Word 
Lead us where thou hast trod, 

Make our faith strong. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 25 

"So now, and till we die, 
Sound we thy praises high, 

And joyful sing; 
Infants, and the glad throng 
Who to thy Church belong, 
Unite to swell the song 

To Christ our King !" 



(Died about A. D. 312) 

Methodius, the martyr, who is also called Eu- 
bulius, the antagonist of Origen, is the author 
of "Symposium (or Banquet) of Ten Virgins" 
(Svfnroaiov t&v deiea 7rapt9evtoi>) , an eloquent but 
verbose and extravagant eulogy on the blessings 
and advantages of voluntary virginity, which he 
describes as "something supernaturally great, 
wonderful, and glorious," and as "the best and 
noblest manner of life." 

"The conception of the Symposium," says 
Schaff, "and the dialogue are borrowed from 
Plato, who celebrated the praises of Eros, as 
Methodius the praises of virginity. Methodius 
begins with a brief dialogue between Eubulios or 
Eubulion (that is, himself) and the virgin Grego- 
rion, who was present at a banquet of the ten 
virgins in the gardens of Arete (that is, personified 
virtue) and reports to him ten discourses which 
these virgins successively delivered in praise of 
chastity. At the end of the banquet the victo- 



26 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

rious Thecla, chief of the virgins (Saint Paul's 
apocryphal companion), standing on the right 
hand of Arete, begins to sing a hymn of chastity 
to which the virgins respond with the oft-repeated 
refrain : 

" 'I keep myself pure for thee, O Bridegroom, 
And holding a lighted torch I go to meet thee/ 

"Then follows a concluding dialogue between 
Eubulios and Gregorion on the question whether 
chastity ignorant of lust is preferable to chastity 
which feels the power of passion and overcomes 
it ; in other words, whether a wrestler who has no 
opponents is better than a wrestler who has many 
and strong antagonists and continually contends 
against them without being worsted. Both agree 
in giving the palm to the latter, and then they 
betake themselves to 'the care of the outward 
man,' expecting to resume the delicate discussion 
on the next day. 

"The taste and morality of virgins discussing at 
great length the merits of sexual purity are very 
questionable, at least from the standpoint of 
modern civilization; but the enthusiastic praise 
of chastity to the extent of total abstinence was 
in full accord with the prevailing asceticism of the 
fathers, including Origen, who freed himself from 
carnal temptation by an act of violence against 
nature." 

The "Parthenion" of Methodius, which com- 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 27 

mences, "Avwtfev, napdevoi, is, like Psalm 119, acros- 
tic; the initial letters of the strophes are the 
letters of the alphabet in their order. Each 
strophe is followed by the same refrain (vnaKorj) . 
The hymn has been translated into English for 
the "Ante-Nicene Library," vol. xiv; we subjoin, 
however, Chatfield's translation, adding to each 
strophe the letter of the Greek alphabet : 

A The Bridegroom cometh! overhead 
The shout descending wakes the dead ! 
Go forth to meet the King, 
The gates just entering! 
Virgins, white-robed, with lamps haste eastward forth to 
meet him, 
Haste ye, O haste to greet him ! 

Refrain: With holy feet, and lamps bright burning, 
I go to meet my Lord returning. 

B Earth's mournful bliss I left, and toys 

Of wanton life, and foolish joys: 

To thee alone I cling; 

Thou art my Life, and King : 
Grant that I may, O Blessed, ever close to thee, 
Thy royal beauty see ! 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

r Thou art my wealth : for thee I fled 

All worldly lure, and upward sped ; 

And come in spotless dress 

Of thine own righteousness, 
With thee to enter in the bridal chamber gates 
Where perfect bliss awaits. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 



28 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

A Saved from the dragon's myriad wiles, 

By which the simple he beguiles, 

I bore the dreadful fire, 

And wild beast's savage ire, 
Waiting till thou from heaven, O Hope of all creation, 
Shouldst come to my salvation! 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

E My home and country for thy sake, 

And maiden dance, I did forsake, 

And mother's pride and race, 

And thoughts of rank and place : 
For thou, O Christ the Word, art all in all to me; 
I long for naught save thee ! 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

Z Hail ! Christ the Life, unchanging Day, 

Accept this humble virgin lay: 

To thee our song of praise 

With heart and voice we raise ! 
In thee, O thou perfection's flower, O Word Divine, 
Love, joy, mind, wisdom, shine. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

H O Bride, triumphant now in light, 

And clad in robes of purest white, 

Sweet-breathing, sinless, free, 

Ope wide the gates to me: 
Sit we in selfsame company near Christ above 
And sing thy marriage, Love ! 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

Ah me! some virgins vainly pour 
Their sobs and cries outside the door; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 29 

Their lamps are quenched, and they 
No burning light display; 
Their error they would mend; but, ah! they come too 
late, 
And closed is the gate. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

I For they a foolish part had played, 
And from the sacred pathway strayed; 
Oil, they had purchased none; 
Ah ! wretched and undone ! 

Forbidden with dead lamps the home of bliss to see, 
They wail their misery. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

K Lo ! goblet filled with sweetest wine : 

Drink we, O virgins, 'tis divine; 

And forth-set for our need: 

Lo! this is drink indeed; 
This for the guests, who to the marriage bidden are, 
The Bridegroom doth prepare. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

A First type, O Blessed One, of thee, 

In Abel shining bright we see : 

To heaven he lifts his eyes, 

Blood-dripping, and thus cries: 
"Me, by my cruel brother slain, receive, O Lord, 
O thou the Eternal Word." 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

M Joseph, another type of thee, 
Won highest prize of purity ; 



30 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Whom thou wouldst own thy child: 
He scorned to be beguiled 
By shameless woman; stripped, he yet her wrath defied, 
And straight to thee he cried: 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

N A lamb for sacrifice is sought: 

A lamblike victim Jephthah brought: 

For rash-made vow he cared, 

Nor virgin daughter spared: 
A type, O Blessed One, of thy humanity, 
She poured her soul to thee: 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

a In valor Judith holds high post : 

The leader of the oppressing host 

She smote by beauty's lure, 

Herself a type all pure: 
He headless lay; and unto thee the conquering maid 
Her love in song displayed: 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

O The judges twain, by passion's flame 

Enkindled, and all dead to shame, 

Would chaste Susannah bind 

To their unhallowed mind : 
To their proposals base she gave a just reply: 
And raised her voice on high : 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

II 'Twere better far that I should die, 
Than traitress be to marriage tie, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 31 

And yielding to your will 
Both soul and body kill : 
Base men ! God's fire of wrath eternal would me seize : 
Save me, O Christ, from these ! 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

P And he who thousands washed from sin, 

Of thy true light the bringer-in, 

For virtue's cause alone 

Is into prison thrown 
By wicked king; and staining now the ground with gore 
He cried to thee the more : 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

2 And thy blest Mother, spotless maid, 
Was thought her vows to have betrayed, 
When travailing with thee, 
O Lord of purity : 

And found with child of transcendental heavenly birth, 
She raised her voice from earth : 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

T Thy saints, all eager that they may 

Behold the glories of the day 

Of thine espousals high, 

With holy gifts draw nigh. 
For thou, O Lord, hast called them, thou the angels' King : 
White-robed to thee they sing. 

Refrain : With holy feet, etc. 

T O holy Church, O heavenly Bride, 
With hymns, attending at thy side, 



32 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

We yet on earth below 
Thine honor thus forth-show: 
All snow-white thou, all-beauteous spouse of Christ above, 
All purity, all love. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

$ Past are corruption, sickness, pain; 

Nor tears shall ever flow again : 

For troubles all have fled, 

And Death himself is dead; 
And sin and folly with dark dismal train are gone, 
Since grace in glory shone. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

X No longer Paradise of men 

Is void ; for there God wills again 

That man should safely dwell; 

Yea, man the same who fell 
Beneath the serpent's wiles : now in the promised rest, 
Immortal, fearless, blest. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

% Thou now to heavenly places raised, 

By all the virgin choir art praised, 

O Bride of heavenly King: 

And song all new we sing. 
With lighted torch in hand, with snow-white lilies crowned, 
Thy praise in Christ we sound. 

Refrain: With holy feet, etc. 

fl Father of heaven, supreme in might, 
Dwelling in pure eternal light 
With thine own Son most dear, 
Admit — for we are here — 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 33 

E'en us within the gates of life, to sing thy love 
In thy blest courts above. 

Refrain : With holy feet, and lamps bright burning, 
I go to meet my Lord returning. 



Gregory of 1Ra3tan3en 

(About A. D. 330-391) 

Gregory of Nazianzen was born about 330, 
either at Nazianzen, a small village in Cappa- 
docia, where his father was bishop, or in the neigh- 
boring village of Arianzus. He received an ex- 
cellent education, which he improved at Athens, 
where he formed an acquaintance and friendship 
with Basil. On his return home he was ordained ; 
hesitated long between the contemplative and the 
active life; adhered to the Nicene doctrine, and 
endeavored to keep together its persecuted ad- 
herents ; assisted his father in his pastoral duties, 
and at length became minister of a small congre- 
gation of the Nicene Christians at Constantinople. 
Distinguishing himself greatly by his fervent elo- 
quence, and no less by his wisdom and moderation, 
he was made bishop of Constantinople by Theo- 
dosius in 381. After filling this high and difficult 
post for one year he resigned it and returned to 
his native place, where he died in 391. 

"Influenced, perhaps, by the example of the 
Syrian poems of Ephraem, and aiming, as he him- 
self tells us, both at consolation for himself in his 
3 



34 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

trials, and also to entice those who cared for 
poetical form, and not to leave the graces of 
style in the possession of paganism, he uses poetry 
for almost every possible purpose. " "As a poet," 
says Schaff, "he holds a subordinate though re- 
spectable place. He wrote poetry only in his 
later life, and wrote it not from native impulse, as 
the bird sings among the branches, but in the 
strain of moral reflection upon his own life, or 
upon doctrinal and moral themes. Many of his 
orations are poetical ; many of his poems are pro- 
saic. Not one of his odes or hymns passed into 
use in the Church" (1. c, iii, p. 921). 

In subjoining the following specimens we follow 
the order as given by Christ and Paranikas. 

I 

Hymn to Christ 

The translation of this hymn, commencing, 
le rdv dcpdirov, we quote from "The Voice of 
Christian Life in Song," p. 62: 

Hear us now, Eternal Monarch, 
Grant us now to hymn and praise thee — 
Thee the King, and thee the Master ! 
By whom are our hymns and praises, 
By whom are the choirs of angels, 
By whom flow the ceaseless ages, 
By whom only shines the sun, 
By whom walks the moon in brightness, 
By whom smile the stars in beauty, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 35 

By whom all the race of mortals 
Have received their godlike reason, 
And thine other works outshone. 
Thou the universe createdst, 
Hast to each his place decreed, 
Constituting all in wisdom ; 
And thy word, Lord, was a deed. 
For thy word, Son of the Highest, 
In essential might and glory, 
Equals that of God the Father, 
Who creates and reigns o'er all ; 
Whilst the Spirit all embraceth, 
All preserving, all providing: 
Triune God, on thee we call. 

Thou, the one and only Monarch, 
In thy nature changeless, endless, 
Of unutterable glory, 
Inaccessible in wisdom, 
Never-wearied strength of heaven, 
Infinite, without beginning, 
High in unapproached light; 
All with sleepless eye observing, 
Not a depth thy glance escapeth, 
From the earth to the abysses, 
Deepest deep or highest height : 
Wheresoe'er my lot may be, 
Grant me thus to worship thee. 
Cleanse me, Lord, from my transgression, 
Purge me from an evil conscience, 
That thy godhead I may honor; 
Holy hands in praise uplifting, 
Blessing Christ on bended knee. 
Own me, then, at last thy servant, 
When thou com'st in majesty. 



36 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Be to me a pitying Father, 
Let me find thy grace and mercy ; 
And to thee all praise and glory 
Through the endless ages be. 

II 

Hymn to God 
This hymn, commencing, "fl Trdvrcjv tneiceiva, 
says Chatfield — whose version we subjoin — is an 
undying record, and may bear comparison with 
any similar composition in any age : 

O thou, the One supreme o'er all ! 

For by what other name 
May we upon thy greatness call, 

Or celebrate thy fame ? 

Ineffable ! to thee what speech 

Can hymns of honor raise ? 
Ineffable ! what tongue can reach 

The measure of thy praise ? 

How, unapproached, shall mind of man 

Descry thy dazzling throne, 
And pierce, and find thee out, and scan 

Where thou dost dwell alone ? 

Unuttered thou ! all uttered things 

Have had their birth from thee : 
The One unknown ! from thee the springs 

Of all we know and see ! 

Mindful, and mindless, all things yield 

To thy parental sway, 
For thou to all art life and shield : 

They honor and obey. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 37 

For round thee center all the woes 

Of night and darkling day, 
The common wants and common throes; 

And all to thee do pray. 

And all things, as they move along 

In order fixed by thee, 
Thy watchword heed, in silent song 

Hymning thy majesty. 

And lo ! all things abide in thee, 

And through the complex whole 
Thou spread'st thine own divinity, 

Thyself of all the goal. 

One Being thou, all things, yet none, 

Nor one nor yet all things ; 
How call thee, O mysterious One? 

A worthy name, who brings ? 

All-named from attributes thine own, 

How call thee as we ought? 
Thou art unlimited, alone, 

Beyond the range of thought. 

What heaven-born intellect shall rend 

The veiling clouds above ? 
Be thou propitious ! ever send 

Bright tokens of thy love ! 

O thou, the One supreme o'er all ! 

For by what other name 
May we upon thy greatness call, 

Or celebrate thy fame ? 



38 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

III 

Hymn to Christ on Easter Day 

(After long silence) 

The translation of this hymn, commencing, 
XgiGTs aval-, is by Chatfield: 

Christ the King ! since breath pent up so long 

1 have outpoured, thou first shalt be my song; 
May this my word, the current of my mind, 

If lawful thus to speak, acceptance find, 
And unto thee as holy incense rise 
Of holiest priest, a grateful sacrifice ! 
The Father's Brightness, Word of the Great Mind, 
Who cannot be by power of speech defined, 
High Light of highest Light, the Only Son, 
Image and Seal of the Immortal One, 
Without beginning; from same Fount of Light 
With the Great Spirit; infinite in might: 
All-glorious thou, and Author of all good: 
From age to age thy truth hath firmly stood. 
Enthroned thou reignest high in heaven above, 
Almighty Breath of Mind and Lord of Love. 
Throughout this framed universe divine 
Whatever is, or shall be, all is thine : 
Thou madest all, to all thou givest life, 
And all thou guidest: nowhere fault or strife 
Nor error in thy workmanship is found: 
The whole in willing chain to thee is bound. 
Thou laid'st the world's foundation; and thy nod 
All things obey, and own their Sovereign God. 
For thee the lofty sun, the king of day, 
Quenching the stars, holds on his fiery way. 
For thee, for so thou bidst, the eye of night, 
The moon, waxes and wanes, full orb of light. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 39 

For thee the belt of heaven, all-dancing ring, 

And seasons kindly mingling, laugh and sing. 

For thee the fixed stars and planets shine 

In course, and speak thy wisdom all divine. 

Thy light they are, the heavenly minds that be, 

All sing on high the glorious Trinity. 

Man is thy glory too, angel below, 

Here placed to sing, O Light, thy beauteous glow. 

Immortal, fleshless, glory's highest ray, 

Who mortal flesh yet took'st, man's woes to stay, 

For thee I live, for thee my songs arise, 

For thee I am a breathing sacrifice; 

For this, of all things once possessed by me, 

Alone remains, and this I give to thee. 

I tie my tongue, and loose it at thy will ; 
In either, what thou wouldst may I fulfill, 
Speak what is right, nor think aught else beside : 
From mire select the pearl, with thee my Guide ; 
Gold from the sand, the rose from thorny brake, 
From straw-encumbered ears the pure grain take. 

To thee, O Christ, this wreath of uttered praise, 
As firstf ruits of my loving toil, I raise. 

For from the dead, with whom he mingled lay, 
Great Christ arose, upon this gladsome day; 
Gates of grim Hades he did open fling ; 
And broke death's power, and robbed him of his sting; 
Rushed from the tomb, appeared to speaking men, 
For whom, once born, he died and rose again ; 
That we newborn might rise, from death set free, 
And ever live, ascending Lord, with thee. 
This day glad heaven with acclamation rings, 
And choir angelic crowning anthem sings. 



40 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

This day my closed lips I loose in song 

To thee, to whom my lute and breath belong. 

Of mind to Mind, of word to the true Word, 
I here have offered what I could afford: 
Hereafter, if he will, I hope to bring 
To the Great Spirit worthier offering. 

IV 

To His Own Soul 

The translation of this poem, commencing, T£ 
aoi -beteis, is that by Mrs. Browning, who has 
the heading "Soul and Body." Another transla- 
tion is given by Chatfield, who remarks that the 
original is one of the most spirited pieces anywhere 
to be found, truly forcible and racy. 

What wilt thou possess or be ? 

my soul, I ask of thee. 

What of great, or what of small, 
Counted precious therewithal? 
Be it only rare, and want it, 

1 am ready, soul, to grant it. 
Wilt thou choose to have and hold 
Lydian Gyges' charm of old, 

So to rule us with a ring, 
Turning round the jeweled thing, 
Hidden by its face concealed, 
And revealed by its revealed? 
Or preferrest Midas' fate — 
He who died in golden state, 
All things being changed to gold? 
Of a golden hunger dying, 
Through a surfeit of "would I"-ing ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 41 

Wilt have jewels brightly cold, 
Or may fertile acres please? 
Or the sheep of many a fold, 
Camels, oxen, for the wold? 
Nay ! I will not give thee these ! 
These to take thou hast not will, 
These to give I have not skill ; 
Since I cast earth's cares abroad, 
That day when I turned to God. 

Wouldst a throne, a crown sublime, 
Bubble blown upon the time? 
So thou mayest sit to-morrow 
Looking downward in meek sorrow, 
Some one walking by thee scorning, 
Who adored thee yester morning, 
Some malign one ? Wilt be bound 
Fast in marriage (joy unsound!) 
And be turned round and round 
As the time turns ? Wilt thou catch it, 
That sweet sickness? and to match it 
Have babies by the hearth, bewildering ? 
And if I tell thee the best children 
Are none — what answer? 

Wilt thou thunder 
Thy rhetorics, move the people under ? 
Covetest to sell the laws 
With no justice in thy cause, 
And bear on, or else be borne, 
Before tribunals worthy scorn? 
Wilt thou shake a javelin rather 
Breathing war? or wilt thou gather 
Garlands from the wrestler's ring? 
Or kill beasts for glorying? 



42 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Covetest the city's shout, 
And to be in brass struck out ? 
Cravest thou that shade of dreaming, 
Passing air of shifting seeming, 
Rushing of a printless arrow, 
Clapping echo of a hand? 
What to those who understand 
Are to-day's enjoyments narrow, 
Which to-morrow go again, 
Which are shared with evil men, 
And of which no man in his dying 
Taketh aught for softer lying? 
What then wouldst thou, if thy mood 
Choose not these? What wilt thou be, 
O my soul? a deity? 
A god before the face of God, 
Standing glorious in his glories, 
Choral in his angels' chorus? 

Go ! upon thy wing arise, 
Plumed by quick energies, 
Mount in circles up the skies: 
And I will bless thy winged passion, 
Help with words thine exaltation, 
And, like a bird of rapid feather, 
Outlaunch thee, Soul, upon the aether. 

But thou, O fleshly nature, say, 
Thou with odors from the clay, 
Since thy presence I must have 
As a lady with a slave, 
What wouldst thou possess or be, 
That thy breath may stay with thee? 
Nay ! I owe thee naught beside, 
Though thine hands be open wide. 
Would a table suit thy wishes, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 43 

Fragrant with sweet oils and dishes 

Wrought to subtle niceness? where 

Stringed music strokes the air, 

And blithe hand-clappings, and the smooth 

Fine postures of the tender youth 

And virgins wheeling through the dance 

With an unveiled countenance, — 

Joys for drinkers, who love shame, 

And the maddening wine-cup's flame. 

Wilt thou such, howe'er decried? 

Take them, — and a rope beside ! 

Nay ! this boon I give instead 

Unto friend insatiated, — 

May some rocky house receive thee 

Self-roofed, to conceal thee chiefly; 

Or if labor there must lurk, 

Be it by a short day's work ! 

And for garment, camel's hair, 

As the righteous clothed were, 

Clothe thee ! or the bestial skin, 

Adam's bareness hid within, — 

Or some green thing from the way, 

Leaf of herb, or branch of vine, 

Swelling, purpling as it may, 

Fearless to be drunk for wine ! 

Spread a table there beneath thee, 

Which a sweetness shall upbreathe thee, 

And which the dearest earth is giving, 

Simple present to all living ! 

When that we have placed thee near it, 

We will feed thee with glad spirit. 

Wilt thou eat ? soft, take the bread, 

Oaten cake, if that bested ; 

Salt will season all aright, 

And thine own good appetite, 



44 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Which we measure not, nor fetter : 

'Tis an uncooked condiment, 

Famine's self the only better. 

Wilt thou drink ? why, here doth bubble 

Water from a cup unspent, 

Followed by no tipsy trouble, 

Pleasure sacred from the grape ! 

Wilt thou have it in some shape 

More like luxury ? we are 

No grudgers of wine-vinegar ! 

But if all will not suffice thee, 

And thou covetest to draw 

In that pitcher with a flaw, 

Brimful pleasures heaven denies thee — 

Go, and seek out, by that sign, 

Other help than this of mine ! 

For me, I have not leisure so 

To warm thee, Sweet, my household foe, 

Until, like a serpent frozen, 

New maddened with the heat, thou loosen 

Thy rescued fang within mine heart ! 

Wilt have measureless delights 

Of gold-roofed palaces, and sights 

From pictured or from sculptured art, 

With motion near their life ; and splendor 

Of bas-relief, with tracery tender, 

And varied and contrasted hues ? 

Wilt thou have, as nobles use, 

Broidered robes to flow about thee ? 

Jeweled fingers ? Need we doubt thee ? 

Gauds for which the wise will flout thee ? 

I most, who, of all beauty, know 

It must be inward, to be so ! 

And thus I speak to mortals low, 

Living for the hour, and o'er 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 45 

Its shadow, seeing nothing more: 
But for those of nobler bearing, 
Who live more worthily of wearing 
A portion of the heavenly nature — 
To low estate of clayey creature, 
See, I bring the beggar's meed, 
Nutriment beyond the need! 
O, beholder of the Lord, 
Prove on me the flaming sword ! 
Be mine husbandman, to nourish 
Holy plants, that words may flourish 
Of which mine enemy would spoil me, 
Using pleasurehood to foil me ! 
Lead me closer to the tree 
Of all life's eternity; 
Which, as I have pondered, is 
The knowledge of God's greatnesses : 
Light of One, and shine of Three, 
Unto whom all things that be 
Flow and tend ! 

In such a guise, 
Whoever on the earth is wise 
Wilt speak unto himself : and who 
Such inner converse would eschew, — 
We say perforce of that poor wight, 
"He lived in vain !" and if aright, 
It is not the worst word we might. 

This is one of the several long poems, ' 'severally- 
defective in a defect common but not necessary 
to short occasional poems, and lamentable any- 
where, a want of unity and completeness. . . . 
Monotony of construction without unity of inten- 
tion is the most wearisome of monotonies, and, 



46 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

except in the case of a few short poems, we find it 
everywhere in Gregory" (Mrs. Browning). 

The following two are in Chatfield's rendering: 

V 

A Morning Prayer 

"Og&piog 6l6(*)fii 

Tis dawn : to God I lift my hand, 

To regulate my way; 
My passions rule, and unmoved stand, 

And give to Thee the day. 

Not one dark word or deed of sin, 

Not one base thought allow; 
But watch all avenues within, 

And wholly keep my vow. 

Shamed were my age, should I decline; 

Shamed were thy table too 
At which I stand; thy will is mine; 

Give grace, my Christ, to do. 

VI 

A Hymn at Night 

(After failure to keep vow) 
'J&ipevodfiTjv ae 

Thou the Word of truth divine ! 
All light I have not been ; 

Nor kept the day as wholly thine, 
For thou dark spots hast seen. 

The day is down ; night hath prevailed ; 
My Lord I have belied. 

1 vowed and thought to do, but failed ; 
My steps did somewhere slide. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 47 

There came a darkness from below, 

Obscuring safety's way ; 
Thy light, O Christ, again bestow; 

Turn darkness into day. 



VII 

An Evening Hymn 

2e not vvv 

The rendering here given is that of Mrs. Charles ; 
another translation is given by Chatfield. 

Christ, my Lord, I come to bless thee, 
Now when day is veiled in night ; 

Thou who knowest no beginning, 
Light of the Eternal Light. 

Thou the darkness hast dissolved, 
And the outward light created, 

That all things in light might be; 
Fixing the unfixed chaos, 
Molding it to wondrous beauty, 

Into the fair world we see. 

Thou enlightenest man with reason, 
Far beyond the creatures dumb, 

That light in thy light beholding, 
Wholly light he might become. 

Thou hast set the radiant heavens 
With thy many lamps of brightness, 

Filling all the vaults above, 
Day and night in turn subjecting 
To a brotherhood of service 

And a mutual law of love. 



48 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

By the night our wearied nature 
Resting from its toil and tears ; 

To the works, Lord, that thou lovest, 
Waking us when day appears. 



VIII 

Admonitory Address to a Virgin 

Of this poem on celibacy, commencing, UapMvs 
vOfxpTj, Mrs. Browning says it "has occasionally 
graphic touches, but is dull enough generally to 
suit the fairest spinster *s view of that melancholy 
subject. If Hercules could have read it, he must 
have rested in the middle — from which the reader 
is entreated to forbear the inference that the poem 
has not been read through by the writer of the 
present remarks." The translation which we sub- 
join is that of Mr. Chatfield: 

O Bride of Christ on high, 
Thy Bridegroom glorify ! 
Always thyself keep pure, 
In word and wisdom sure, 
That bright with Him all-bright 
Thou e'er mayst dwell in light. 
Far better spouse is he 
Than earthly spouse could be: 
Thy union happier far 
Than mortal unions are. 
In bodily estate 
Thou yet didst imitate 
The intellectual powers, 
Giving to him thy hours: 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 49 

And didst acquire on earth 
The angels' right of birth. 
'Tis "bind and loose" below, 
Bodies from bodies grow: 
Above each stand alone, 
Nor loosing there is known. 
Of pure existence, they 
First bear the ethereal ray, 
Spirit and fire : none rests, 
Doing great God's behests. 
But now wild matter found — 
All nature flowing round 
With unresisted force — 
A mingled intercourse; 
But God the flood restrained, 
And marriage laws ordained. 
But thou hast hence escaped, 
And upward thy course shaped ; 
From matter's base alloy 
To spirit's holy joy. 
Mind harmonized with mind, 
Doth truest pleasure find: 
Such harmony is thine, 
A harmony divine. 
With flesh thou war dost wage, 
And helpest God's image: 
For thou art God's own breath, 
With body yoked till death : 
That out of wrestling sore, 
At length the battle o'er, 
And earth well beaten down, 
Thou mayst receive the crown. 
To marriage also raise, 
But only second praise. 
That is for passion given, 



50 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

This is bright light of heaven: 

That founds a pure offspring, 

This is self-offering. 

This honored was, we hold, 

At seasons marked of old. 

To this in Paradise, 

Lo ! Adam testifies : 

For this on Sinai's peak 

Doth Moses also speak; 

And Zachary the priest 

Of God's true saints not least, 

And whom we hail the rather 

As the Forerunner's father. 

But marriage hath its need: 

Hence springs a holy seed: 

And hence the virgin bride 

Honored at God's own side. 

Yet of the flesh it is, and earth, 

All earthly from its birth. 

When law and shadows ruled, 

And we were sometime schooled, 

Marriage held scepter mild, 

Yet like a little child. 

But when the letter died, 

The Spirit was supplied: 

For Christ had come and borne 

In flesh our woes and scorn : 

Had brought redemption nigh, 

And then ascended high : 

Christ, sprung from Virgin's womb, 

Christ, Conqueror o'er the tomb. 

Then continence did rise, 

And this base world despise, 

Which should its course have mended, 

And high with Christ ascended. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 51 

Thou journey's! well ! but haste ! 
Behind is fiery waste: 
Take to thy steps good heed, 
And to the mountain speed. 
Cast not one backward glance 
On Sodom, lest perchance 
Thou, fixed upon the ground, 
A pile of salt be found. 
In battling with the flesh 
Take ever courage fresh, 
Neither by terror bent, 
Nor overconfident. 
Faint not, for He is nigh 
Who will all strength supply. 

A spark may kindle hell : 
Water the flame doth quell. 
Full means to thee are lent 
For good self-government. 
Let thou the fear of God 
Freeze the rebellious blood: 
Fasting the flesh control : 
Keep watches o'er thy soul, 
And pour it forth in prayer : 
Such thy true weapons are. 
Add tears : and lowly bed, 
With reeds or rushes spread : 
One constant flame of love 
Rising to God above, 
And lulling all desire 
Which doth not up aspire. 
The fallen rise by thee ! 
The shipwrecked pitied be ! 
Thyself live out the gale, 
Expanding Hope's bright sail. 



52 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

They fall not who ne'er rise, 
But they who try the skies. 
Few mount on pinion wings : 
Straight course to humbler things. 
Fell Lucifer through pride : 
Angels in heaven reside. 
One, traitor, sunk in night: 
The eleven are stars of light. 

Be pure, be wholly pure, 
Of this make ever sure, 
Lest thou, by heeding not, 
Christ's spotless robe shouldst spot. 
Let modest be thine eye : 
Thy tongue speak maidenly : 
Thy mind not pandering, 
Thy foot not wandering : 
Nor loud laugh marking thee, 
As one we blush to see. 

Thy poor and tarnished wear, 
Thy unadorned hair, 
I honor more than pearls, 
Or silken dress, or curls. 

Fair flower is modest face, 
And paleness is true grace: 
And virtues plentiful 
Are braid most beautiful. 
With paints let others dress 
The living God's likeness ; 
Live tablet they of sin, 
And all that's base within. 
Whate'er thou hast of beauty, 
Die let it all to duty: 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 53 

But beauty of the soul — 

'Tis God's — it keep thou whole. 

Of men, though good they be, 
The sight 'twere best thou flee. 
Some cheat might thee entrance, 
Or be entranced perchance: 
Eye now with eye bespangling, 
And word with word entangling, 
Then cheek with cheek o'erglowing, 
And mutual passion flowing. 
'Tis well: but not for thee: 
Not thine the accursed tree: 
The tree of life thy care: 
The serpent's guile beware ! 

O maiden, hear my word, 
Have thou no other lord; 
Thy Bridegroom reigns above, 
And bids thee faithful prove. 
Thou from the flesh hast fled, 
And it to thee is dead. 
Why turn to it again, 
And make thy work all vain ? 
That singleness of thine 
Is a rare gift divine: 
Few they whom it adorns, 
As rose among the thorns. 
Such grace 'tis thine to know : 
High o'er the snares below, 
By which the wicked fall, 
Thou safely passest all. 

Lo ! one no sooner builds, 
And bridal chamber gilds, 



54 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Than she with mournful gloom 
Forth bears him to the tomb. 
Felt one a father's pride ? 
At once the loved child died. 
And oh ! the mother's pain 
Of travailing in vain ! 

And jealousy, ah me! 
How frightful 'tis to see, 
When each the other taunts, 
Where stolen friendship haunts ! 

What wormwood and what gall, 
Worst recompense of all, 
To rear up family, 
And then dishonored be ! 

One care is thine, one call, 
To look to God in all ! 
But little thou dost need : 
That little God will speed. 

Shelter and barley cake 
Sufficient wealth will make : 
Nor shall dire need impart 
Keen edge to tempter's dart, 
As when Christ, hard bestead, 
He bade turn stones to bread. 

By thee, however tried, 
Be all base gain denied: 
Fowls of the air God feeds, 
Sure then his saints he heeds. 
Of oil, if faith prevail, 
Thy cruse shall never fail. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 55 

By Cherith's desert brook 
At the great prophet look ! 
To feed him ravens sped : 
So too shalt thou be fed ! 

How Thecla from the flame, 1 

And lions, unscathed came, 

Thou know'st : and how great Paul, 

Preacher of truth to all, 

Bore hunger, thirst, and cold, 

Through death's worst forms still bold ; 

That thou might'st look, O maid, 

To God alone for aid, 

Who in the wilderness 

With food can myriads bless. 

Lo ! beauty fadeth fast, 
Nor will earth's glories last: 
Wealth is a failing stream, 
And power an empty dream. 
But thou, faith's sail unfurled, 
Hast fled this erring world, 
Steering thy course on high 
To realms beyond the sky. 
There in the holy shrine 
Thou shalt forever shine : 
And there with angels raise 
The song of endless praise ! 

A better portion far 

Than sons and daughters are ! 

But maidens, be ye wise, 
And watch with longing eyes, 

1 Thecla, see the "virgin's song" of Methodius, p. 26. 



56 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

That when Christ shall return 
Your lamps may brightly burn : 
That with the Bridegroom ye 
May enter in, and see 
The beauty and the grace 
Of his own dwelling place, 
And share in truth and love 
The mysteries above. 

These are all the pieces of Gregory which are 
contained in the Greek anthology published by 
Christ and Paranikas. In some manuscripts of 
Gregory we also find a quasi-Euripidean trag- 
edy entitled Xpcardg Trdoxuv, which has therefore 
been attributed to Gregory. Mrs. Browning, who 
ascribes the authorship of this tragedy to Apol- 
linaris, says: "Let no voice evermore attribute 
it to Gregory Nazianzen," and, "One only tragedy 
remains with which the memory of Gregory Nazi- 
anzen has been right tragically affronted, and 
which Gregory would cast off with the scorn and 
anger befitting an Apollinarian heresy.' ' The 
Gregorian authorship was defended in modern 
times by A. Ellisen in "Analekten der mittel-und 
neugriechischen Literatur," part i, containing the 
original Greek with a German translation (Leip- 
zig, 1855). Parts of the tragedy with the trans- 
lation of Ellisen were published by Bassler in his 
"Auswahl altchristlicher Lieder" (Berlin, 1858), 
who adopts Ellisen's view. But J. G. Brambs in 
his "De auctoritate tragcedise Christianae quae in- 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 57 

scribi solet Xptordg tt&oxw, Gregorio Nazianzeno, 
falso attributae" (Eichstadt, 1883), and especially 
in his edition of the "Christus Patiens" (Leipzig, 
1885), has shown that Theodore Prodromus, of 
the twelfth century, is the author of the tragedy. 
(See also Hilberg, "Wiener Studien," 1886, p. 282, 
seq.) 

Bassler also gives a poem, or rather a part of 
a poem, entitled "To Himself ' (Ugdg kavTbv) y 
which commences, Jlov tie Xoyoc, which has been 
rendered into English in "The Voice of Christian 
Life in Song," p. 65, where Mrs. Charles says: 
"When his work was done, the Church of the 
Anastasia had arisen, and father, mother, brother, 
and sister, all were dead. In the depths of its 
natural fears, and t the firmness of the hope to 
which at last it rises, it tells the history of those 
solitary years, and echoes well the music of those 
ancient psalms which soar so often 'out of the 
depths' into the light of God." The following 
translation is by Mrs. Browning: 

To Himself 

Where are my winged words ? Dissolved in air. 
Where is my flower of youth ? All withered. Where 
My glory ? Vanished. Where the strength I knew 
From comely limbs? Disease hath changed it too, 
And bent them. Where the riches and the lands ? 
God hath them ! Yea, and sinned snatching hands 
Have grudged the rest. Where is my father, mother, 
And where my blessed sister, my sweet brother? 



58 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Gone to the grave ! — There did remain for me 
Alone my fatherland, till destiny, 
Malignly stirring a black tempest, drove 
My foot from that last rest. And now I rove 
Estranged and desolate a foreign shore, 
And drag my mournful life and age all hoar 
Throneless and cityless, and childless save 
This father-care for children, which I have, 
Living from day to day on wandering feet. 
Where shall I cast this body? What will greet 
My sorrows with an end? What gentle ground 
And hospitable grave will wrap me round? 
Who last my dying eyelids stoop to close — 
Some saint, the Saviour's friend? or one of those 
Who do not know him? The air interpose, 
And scatter these words too ! 



S^nesius 

(A. D. 375-430) 

Synesius was born at Cyrene, about the year 
A. D. 375. He was an enthusiastic pupil of 
Hypatia, the female philosopher, at Alexandria, 
and in 410 was called to the bishopric of Ptole- 
mais, the capital of Pentapolis. "Before taking 
orders he frankly declared that he could not for- 
sake his philosophical opinions, although he would 
in public accommodate himself to the popular 
belief. Synesius was made bishop, but oft regret- 
ted that he exchanged his favorite studies for the 
responsible and onerous duties of the bishopric. 
In his hymns he fuses the Christian doctrine of the 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 59 

Trinity with the Platonic idea of God, and the 
Saviour with the divine Helios, whose daily set- 
ting and rising was to him a type of Christ's de- 
scent into Hades and ascension to heaven. The 
desire of the soul to be freed from the chains of 
matter takes the place of the sorrow for sin and 
the longing after salvation" (Schaff, 1. c, iii, p. 
604, seq.). 

As a poet Synesius stands quite independent of 
Gregory, and probably did not know of his writ- 
ings, as he calls himself the first Christian poet. 
"He was a poet," says Mrs. Browning; "the chief 
poet, we do not hesitate to record our opinion — 
the chief, for true and natural gifts, of all our 
Greek Christian poets; and it was his choice to 
pray lyrically between the dew and the cloud 
rather than preach dogmatically between the 
doxies. . . . This poet has a higher place among 
poets than this bishop among bishops. . . . Little, 
indeed, of his poetry has reached us, but this 
little is great in a nobler sense than of quantity; 
and when of his odes, Anacreontic for the most 
part, we cannot say praisefully that 'they smell 
of Anacreon,' it is because their fragrance is holier 
and more abiding; it is because the human soul 
burning in the censer effaces from our spiritual 
perceptions the attar of a thousand rose-trees 
whose roots are in Teos." 

In the anthology published by Christ, Synesius's 
odes occupy the first place. A convenient edition 



60 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

of "Synesii Episcopi Hymni metrici" was pub- 
lished by J. Flach, Tubingen, 1875. 

The first hymn in the order as given by Christ, 
commencing, *Aye \loi, Xiyeia, we give in Chatfield's 
version : 

Hymn to the Deity 

Wake, wake, I pray thee, shrill-toned lyre ! 
No more to fan the Teian fire, 
No more the Lesbian strain to raise, 
Wake, wake to hymn of nobler praise ! 
Sound Dorian ode, in other guise, 
Than once to maid with laughing eyes, 
Or youth whose form and golden tresses 
Might woo the wanton air's caresses ! 
A better theme inspires my song, 
And bears my soul far hence along. 
A Virgin's God — conceiving throes, 
Wisdom's own cure for mortal woes — 
This bids me now my harp-strings ply, 
And earth's black loves and miseries fly. 
For what is strength, or beauty's sway, 
Or gold, or fame — what doth it weigh — 
Or royal honors — in the scale? 
What these 'gainst search for God avail ? 
Let this man urge the well-horsed car, 
That shoot the true-aimed arrow far ; 
Another watch o'er golden heap, 
And safe his hoarded treasure keep ; 
To one be pride of glossy hair 
Flowing o'er neck in wavelets fair; 
Another court the favoring glances 
Of boys and girls in hymns and dances. 
Not such for me ! But this I pray, 
Unknown to spend life's quiet day ; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 61 

To this vain world unmarked, unknown, 
But God's truth knowing as my own. 
Wisdom present herself to me ! 
Good guide of youth and age is she, 
Of wealth good stewardess and queen, 
Alike in poverty serene; 
Beyond earth's sorrows smiling gay, 
To calm content she points the way. 
That priceless wisdom first I ask, 
To guide and sweeten all life's task, 
And then sufficient humble store 
To keep me from my neighbor's door ; 
That I may ne'er, oppressed with need, 
Harbor dark thoughts of selfish greed. 

Hark ! 'tis the sweet cicada's song : 
He drinks the dew, and chirps along. 
And, lo ! my strings unbidden sound, 
And here and there a voice around ! 
What in the world — what melody 
Will pang divine bring forth to me ? 

'Tis so ! Self-sprung Beginning He, 

Father and Lord of all that be : 

Not made, not born, on high alone 

He hath o'er lofty heaven his throne. 

There glory changeless he displays, 

And scepter there eternal sways; 

Of unities pure Unity, 

And Sole of sole existence he ! 

High ether pure he did combine, 

And quicken into Life Divine. 

He then, ere yet the ages ran, 

In mode ineffable to man, 

The Godhead through the Firstborn poured : 

Hence Three, yet One, the Triune Lord. 



62 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

And now the heavenly fount around 
Behold, with children's beauty crowned, 
Forth from the center as they spring, 
Or round it flow in joyous ring. 

But stop, rash lyre, thy lofty flight, 

Nor touch things hid from mortal sight ! 

To men below it is not given 

To tell high mystic rites of heaven. 

The things beneath do thou reveal; 

The things above let silence seal. 

But Mind now cares for worlds alone, 
In which reflected mind is shown : 
A good beginning this we sing, 
For thence man's spirit hath its spring : 
For now to matter came there down 
Mind incorruptible, high crown, 
Severed in each, and fragment small, 
Yet true descent from God of all. 
This whole, in every part one-centered, 
Whole into whole as it hath entered, 
Takes station at the eternal poles, 
And heaven's resplendent circle rolls. 
Divided next, to those again, 
In given form who yet retain 
Their dowry unimpaired of mind, 
There are high offices assigned ; 
The chariot race of stars one guides, 
One o'er the angelic choir presides. 
But, ah ! another, empty, vain, 
Self-dragged by down-inclining chain, 
Hath found a form of lower earth, 
Deep fallen from his heavenly birth : 
From home apostate far he flew, 
And cups of Lethe's darkness drew ; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 63 

Of eyeless soul and murky mind, 

To heaven's true joy and glory blind; 

Fain he to joyless earth repaired, 

A god by mortal things ensnared. 

All dark ! yet, lo ! to mortal eyes 

A ray of cheering light doth rise ! 

A door of hope is opened high, 

And helping hand is stretched out nigh, 

To lift the fallen here on earth 

Back to the honors of their birth, 

When they, emerging from the strife 

And din and cares of storm-tossed life, 

To holy paths have turned indeed, 

Which to their Father's palace lead. 

Blest he who from the entangling mesh 

Of matter and of greedy flesh 

Hath fled, and on with springing bound 

The upward way to God hath found ! 

Blest he who, after fates severe, 

And toils and many a bitter tear, 

And all the crowds of anxious cares 

Which earth to all her votaries shares, 

To mind's true course at length restored, 

Hath God's own shining depth explored ! 

A task it is, to lift above 

Whole outstretched soul in newborn love ! 

Yet only make determined start, 

With wings of mind and honest heart, 

And nigh to thee will He appear 

With stretched- forth hands, thy Father dear. 

Before will run a shining light, 

And all thy upward paths make bright : 

Fields of sweet thought thou now shalt tread, 

Pledge of true beauty, for thee spread ! 



64 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Come, O my soul, and drink of this, 
A fountain flowing with all bliss; 
And to thy Father, lifting prayer, 
Without delay, up-mount the air. 
Leaving to earth the things of earth, 
In God assert thy Godlike birth; 
And mingling with thy Father, Friend, 
Taste joys above that never end. 

Bonar, in speaking of the ode just given, re- 
marks: 'The piece is a long one, full of tender 
beauty, but too much reminding us of Anacreon. 
Not that we greatly object to such imitations. 
They have, at and since the Reformation, been of 
great service in the Christianizing of the people. 
The old immemorial melodies had rooted them- 
selves in the minds as well as the ears of the nation. 
The words were often poor, sometimes evil; and 
how are they to be prevented from doing mis- 
chief? By having them supplanted with the 
good and true ; the well-known tunes retained, the 
words cast aside. We find this done in England ; 
but the fullest experiment of the kind was made 
in Scotland, where the Wedderburns compiled the 
'gude and godly ballads,' engrafting holy words 
upon melodies hitherto associated only with im- 
purity. How touchingly one of these old ballads 
runs: 

"Ah ! my love, leave me not, 
Leave me not, leave me not, 
Thus mine alone ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 65 

With ane burden on my back 
I cannot bear, I am so weak ; 
Ah, my love, leave me not, 

Thus mine alone ! 
With sins I am laden sair, 
Leave me not, leave me not ; 
With sins I am laden sair, 
Leave me not alone ! 



"The new words, though sometimes rude, were 
very exactly fitted to the old tunes, and upon the 
wings of these old tunes gospel-truth went widely 
and gloriously over Scotland. We do not know 
how far some of the early Greek Christian poets 
attempted this, or whether Synesius had this in 
view at all in his lyrical effusions. But it is quite 
possible that Christianity may have found its 
way into Greek and Roman hearts by means of 
such adaptations. The classic dress with which 
Buchanan clothed the Psalms of David has 
brought these Hebrew hymns, formed upon a 
Hebrew rhythm, under the notice of many a one 
who otherwise would have overlooked, perhaps 
despised, them. ,, 

Speaking of the English translation of this 
ode by Mr. Chatfield, Bonar mentions an English 
version made in 1844 by Mr. Isaac Williams, the 
author of the well-known High Church treatise on 
the doctrine of Reserve, whose rendering he 
regards as more poetical than that of Chatfield, 
though even more paraphrastic. His (Williams's) 



66 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

twenty-four stanzas really make a fine poem. He 
has completely departed from the measure of the 
Greek original, but he has well preserved the 
spirit. The seven stanzas which Bonar quotes 
read thus : 

"Come, sweet harp resounding 

Teian strains of yore, 
With soft airs abounding 
Round the Lesbian shore : 
Doric shall awake thy soft themes no more. 

"Talk no more of maiden, 

Fair with beauty's wiles, 
Youth with blessings laden, 
Whom new life beguiles, 
Smiling as it flies, flying as it smiles. 

"Wisdom, which ne'er wrongeth, 
Born of God above, 
Toils in birth and longeth 
Your sweet strains to prove, 
■And hath bid me flee woes of earthly love. 

"What is strength or glory, 
Beauty, gold, or fame? 
What renown in story, 
Or a kingly name ? 
To the thoughts of God — thoughts that bring not 
blame. 

"One o'er steeds is bending, 
One his bow hath strung; 
One his gold is tending, 
Only youth is sung, 
With bright looks, and locks o'er his shoulders 
flung. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 67 

"Mine be the low portal, 
Paths in silence trod, 
Knowing not things mortal, 
Knowing things of God, 
While still at my side wisdom holds her rod. 

"Thus the lyrist moves lightly on till he comes to such 
solemn verses as: 

"Happy he who fleeth 
Hell devouring wide, 
Who his pathway seeth 
Through the stormy tide, 
And to God returns, casting earth aside." 

II 
JIclXlv (peyyog 

This rendering is by Chatfield: 

Again we hail the opening morn, 
Again breaks forth the day newborn, 
Which, rising in victorious might, 
Chases away black-wandering night ! 
Again, my mind, in early songs 
Praise Him to whom all praise belongs ; 
Who gave to morning dawn the light 
Who gave the glittering stars to night, 
Which to their Maker and their King 
Around the world in chorus sing. 
For o'er prolific matter, high, 
Moves ether pure in fiery sky ; 
Where glides the moon in glorious trim, 
Cutting the last encircling rim: 
For to the eighth revolving stream 
The star-borne courses brightly gleam. 



68 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

But now beyond the starry poles 
A counter sea of glory rolls, 
Unbosomed; and with dance divine 
Doth the Eternal Mind enshrine, 
Which covered hath with hoary wings 
The palace of the King of kings. 
What is beyond none may relate, 
Nor mind of man can penetrate : 
Eternal severance restrains, 
And happy silence ever reigns. 
From Root, or Spring, or Fountain one 
A threefold lighted Form hath shone: 
For where the Father dwells above, 
There dwelleth too his own heart's love, 
His glorious Son, wisdom perfect, 
And of all worlds the Architect: 
And in the Unity combined 
The Spirit's holy Light hath shined. 
One Root of Good, one Fount of Love, 
Whence sprung the bliss supreme above: 
And the bright holy lamps divine 
In equal glory ever shine. 
And thence in this fair world of ours 
With high-born intellectual powers, 
A chorus now of deathless kings 
The Triune glory ever sings. 
And near the Fount of Love and Truth 
Angelic band in changeless youth, 
Guided by holy Wisdom's mind, 
Immortal wreath of beauty find. 
But some with dark averted eyes 
Fall mindless from the lofty skies 
Downward the gloomy depths among, 
And bring the higher world along ; 
Down, down to Matter's utmost bound, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 69 

Where, settling in the depth profound, 
Nature assigns them birth and place, 
A godlike, though God-fallen, race. 

Hence giant heroes took their birth, 

The mighty conquerors of earth; 

And hence Breath sown o'er all the ground 

Each varying type of life hath found. 

But all things to thy counsel hold, 

Things past, or present, new or old : 

Whate'er we have, whate'er we share, 

Of all from thee the sources are. 

The Father and the Mother thou, 

Male, female, unto thee we bow: 

Or voice be heard, or all be still, 

'Tis just as ordered by thy will. 

And thou or Nature thyself art, 

Or Nature is thy counterpart : 

And thou art King ; and ages all 

Within thine age unmeasured fall. 

May I my song aright renew, 

O thou, the Root whence all things grew ! 

Hail ! thou, the world's Original ; 

Hail ! thou, the Spring, First Cause of all. 

All numbers blending into one, 

The Uncreated, God alone ! 

All hail, all hail, thou One Divine ! 

All joy, all happiness be thine! 

Bend thou, O bend propitious ear, 

And this my hymn of praises hear, 

Speed on true Wisdom's opening day, 

Pour blessings down in rich array: 

Yea, grace-distilling streams pour down, 

That I may win contentment's crown 

In life's sweet calm ; the happy mean 



70 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Give me, riches and want between. 
Off from my limbs diseases ward, 
My soul from stormy passions guard: 
Let no dark thoughts my steps attend : 
My life from biting cares defend; 
Lest mind, borne down by earthly ill, 
To soar should find nor time nor will. 
But grant me with free wing to rise, 
And join the chorus of the skies, 
And thee with thine forever sing 
The glories of my God and King ! 

Ill 

"Aye fioi, ipvxa 
Of this ode, which has 734 lines, we subjoin the 
first lines in Chatfield's version: 

Lift up thyself, my soul, 

Above this world's control ! 
Spend and be spent in holy hymns of praise. 

Be armed with pure desire, 

Burn with celestial fire: 
Unto the King of gods our voice we raise : 

To him a crown we weave, and bring 

A sacrifice of words, a bloodless offering. 

IV 

21 [iev aQXOfievag 

This, too, is a lengthy ode (299 lines). We sub- 
join the first lines in Chatfield's version : 

To Thee at evening gray, 
To thee at growth of day, 
To thee at noon, to thee at vesper hour, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 71 

And when now fades the light, 

And poured forth is the night 
(Both night and day are thine, and show thy power), 

I sing, O Healer of the Soul, 
And of the body too : thou only mak'st it whole. 

V 

'Yilvg)(j,£V kovqov vvfi<f>ag 

We give this "Hymn to Christ" in full accord- 
ing to Chatfield's rendering: 

Awake, our lute, the Child to sing 

Of bride unwedded, holy maid ; 
True Son of the Eternal King, 

Ere earth's foundations yet were laid. 

Ineffable thy counsels, Lord, 
Father of all, by which was born 

The Christ ! a virgin's throes afford 
The Light of Life to world forlorn ! 

A Man ! and yet of ages gone, 

And of all ages yet to come, 
Throughout eternity, the One 

Upholder, Perfecter, and Sun. 

Thyself, O Christ, art Fount of Light, 
Light of the Father's Light, bright Ray ! 

Dark matter thou didst burst ; and night 
To holy souls thou turn'st to day. 

Yea ! Founder of the world thou art, 
And molder of each starry sphere : 

To earth her spurs thou dost impart; 
While men hail thee their Saviour dear. 



72 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

For thee his chariot Titan drives, 

The quenchless fount of morning light. 

From thee the bull-faced moon derives 
Her power to loose the gloom of night. 

By thee the year with fruit is crowned : 
By thee the flocks and herds are fed: 

Productive thou dost make the ground; 
And to the poor thou givest bread. 

For thou from thine o'erflowing store 

Of grace ineffable and love, 
O'er surface of all worlds dost pour 

The fertile sunshine from above. 

And from thy bosom forth did spring 
To life both light, and mind, and soul : 

O pity then thine own offspring 
Imprisoned under hard control. 

By mortal limbs, by flesh and blood, 
Coerced, and measures stern of fate : 

O save thine own, thou great and good, 
Nor let sick mind sick body hate ! 

Persuasion to my words nod thou, 
And to my deeds such honest fame, 

That truth I never disavow, 
Nor Sparta, nor Cyrene shame ! 

But may my soul, unbowed by grief, 
Draw all her nourishment from thee, 

Stretching both eyes, in calm relief, 
Up to thy light, from sorrow free ! 

That, cleansed from dregs of worldly soil, 
I may by straight course upward mount, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 73 

And 'scaping from earth's care and toil, 
Be mingled with the soul's own fount ! 

Life such of pure content and praise, 
Do thou to thy poor harper grant, 

While still to thee the hymn I raise, 
And glory to the Father chant. 

And Spirit, mid-enthroned compeer, 
The Parent Root and Branch between! 

Be such on earth my bright career, 
Nor sin nor sorrow intervene; 

Until within the courts above, 

The travail of my soul shall cease, 

Still singing hymns of heavenly love 
In glory and in perfect peace. 

Thee, thee, the Fount of love, we bless, 
O Father, rock and strength of thine ; 

And thee alike, his form express, 
And seal, all beauty, Son Divine. 

And Holy Breath, of both the crown, 
Whose quickening gifts like billows roll: 

Thou with the Father, send him down 
To cheer and fertilize my soul ! 

VI 

Mer<fc rrayag ayiag 

This ode runs in Chatfield's version: 

Thee, with the holy self-sprung Fount, we sing 
Who art from all eternity great King, 
God and of God, immortal, glorious One, 
The only Father's true and only Son ! 



74 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

To thee, with him, our praises all belong; 

Thee will we crown with choicest flowers of song. 

Son of the Father, thou by birth divine ! 

In thee all bright the Father's glories shine. 

And from the Father and through thee, behold ! 

The Spirit issues — mystery threefold! 

And takes the middle place of light and mind, 

In Trinity and Unity combined. 

Poured was the sacred Fountain into thee ; 

Yet One it was, and is eternally. 

The Father's Wisdom, Mind, and beauteous Ray, 

Eternal Son, thou dost to all display. 

Of hidden Deity the outstanding light, 

In thee the purposes divine are bright; 

For thus the Eternal Father did decree, 

That thou Beginning to all worlds shouldst be; 

And bring to bodies shape and form combined 

With powers, from highest source, of thought and mind. 

The orb of heaven in wisdom thou dost guide, 

And shepherd o'er the flock of stars preside. 

Thou leader art of angels' choir and band ; 

Thou dost the phalanx of God's hosts command. 

And thou too dost the mortal race befriend, 

And all their paths and wandering steps attend. 

The Spirit undivided thou dost spread 

O'er earth, and gather back to fountain-head 

Thy gifts unwasted; for thou dost unchain 

Death's captives, bringing them to life again. 

Accept, my King, this wreath of hymns from me; 

And O ! propitious to thy servant be ! 

Grant thou calm life ; and stay the wandering tide, 

And bid the flood through worldly straits subside; 

From soul and limbs diseases dire repel ; 

And all pernicious rush of passions quell. 

Or wealth or poverty extreme foresend; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 75 

And to just deeds fame honorable send. 

Among the people good report accord; 

And with persuasion crown the gentle word; 

That waveless thus my mind may reap repose, 

And I ne'er groan oppressed with earth's dark woes ; 

But watered from thy heavenly-flowing rill, 

My mind I may with wisdom's produce fill. 

VII 

IIpa)TOC vdfiov evp6(j,av 
This ode, which is a ''Hymn to Christ," we give 
in Mrs. Browning's rendering: 

O my deathless, O my blessed, 
Maid-born, glorious son confessed, 

my Christ of Solyma ! 

1 who earliest learnt to play 

This measure for thee, fain would bring 
Its new sweet tune to citern-string — 
Be propitious, O my King ! 
Take this music which is mine 
Anthemed from the songs divine ! 

We will sing thee, deathless One, 
God himself and God's great Son — ■ 
Of sire of endless generations, 
Son of manifold creations ! 
Nature mutually endued, 
Wisdom in infinitude ! 
God, before the angels burning — 
Corpse, among the mortals mourning ! 
What time thou wast poured mild 
From an earthly vase defiled, 
Magi with fair arts besprent, 
At thy new star's orient, 



76 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Trembled inly, wondered wild, 

Questioned with their thoughts abroad — 

"What then is the newborn child? 

Who the hidden God? 

God, or corpse, or king? 

Bring your gifts, oh, hither bring 

Myrrh for rite — for tribute, gold — 

Frankincense for sacrifice ! 

God ! thine incense take and hold ! 

King ! I bring thee gold of price ! 

Myrrh with tomb will harmonize I" 

For thou, entombed, hast purified 
Earthly ground and rolling tide, 
And the path of demon nations, 
And the free air's fluctuations, 
And the depth below the deep ! 
Thou God, helper of the dead, 
Low as Hades didst thou tread! 
Thou King, gracious aspect keep, 
Take this music which is mine, 
Anthemed from the songs divine. 

VIII 

'Tito d&piov apfioyav 
This ode in Chatfield's translation reads thus 

! 'tis no theme of common things 
That wakes my ivory- fastened strings ! 
To thee, in solemn Dorian strain, 

1 lift my heart and voice amain, 
O blessed, O immortal One, 
The holy Virgin's glorious Son ! 
But, O great King, save thou my life 
From cares and woes and worldly strife, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 77 

That from calamity all free 

Both night and day I may praise thee. 

And to my mind mayst thou convey 

From mind's own fount, a clear bright ray. 

Unto my youth mayst thou impart 

Soundness of limbs and manly heart : 

And may my deeds reflect thy light 

In honor, truth, and glory bright. 

And on the ripeness of mine age 

Mayst thou the wisdom of the sage 

Bestow, with health, the blessed mead 

Of harvest rich from well-sown seed. 

And on that darling son of mine 

May thy preserving mercy shine, 

Whom when just passing gate of death, 

Thou didst restore to vital breath. 

O Lord of life, 'twas thou didst wrench 

From Death's firm grasp, his prey, and quench 

My burning grief in floods of joy; 

For thou didst give me back my boy ; 

And tears, O Father, thou did'st dry, 

In answer to thy suppliant's cry ! 

May son and daughter, much loved pair, 

Thy kind protection ever share, 

And all my house, in happy calm, 

Be sheltered by thine hand from harm ! 

And, O my Saviour King, bless thou 

The partner of my wedded vow; 

From sickness and from sorrow free, 

Faithful, one-minded, may she be, 

Preserved by thee from thought of sin, 

All bright without, all pure within ! 

Untouched by roving passions' tide, 

My honored wife, my love, my pride ! 

Loose thou my soul from baneful chains 



78 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Of worldly life, its cares and pains, 
And floods of dismal grief and woe, 
Which overwhelm this earth below. 
O ! thus prepared may I be found 
With holy worshipers around 
To lead the choir, and chants to raise 
To thy all-glorious Father's praise; 
And to thy majesty, great King, 
Loud hymns again I hope to sing; 
Again in voice of praise thy name 
To bless, thy honors to proclaim ; 
May be, my harp I shall again 
Tune all unhurt to highest strain. 

IX 

HoXvrjpare, icvdifie 
This ode Mrs. Browning thus rendered : 

Well-beloved and glory-laden, 

Born of Solyma's pure maiden ! 

I would hymn thee, blessed Warden, 

Driving from thy Father's garden 

Blinking serpent's crafty lust, 

With his bruised head in the dust ! 

Down thou earnest, low as earth, 

Bound to those of mortal birth; 

Down thou earnest, low as hell, 

Where shepherd-Death did tend and keep 

A thousand nations like to sheep, 

While weak with age old Hades fell 

Shivering through his dark to view thee, 

And the Dog did backward yell 

With j aws all gory to let through thee ! 

So, redeeming from their pain 

Choirs of disembodied ones, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 79 

Thou didst lead whom thou didst gather, 

Upward in ascent again, 

With a great hymn to the Father 

Upward to the pure white thrones ! 

King, the demon tribes of air 

Shuddered back to feel thee there ! 

And the holy stars stood breathless, 

Trembling in their chorus deathless ; 

A low laughter filled aether — 

Harmony's most subtle sire 

From the seven strings of his lyre, 

Stroked a measured music hither—* 

Io paean ! victory ! 

Smiled the star of morning — he 

Who smileth to foreshow the day ! 

Smiled Hesperus the golden, 

Who smileth soft for Venus gay ! 

While that horned glory holden 

Brimful from the fount of fire, 

The white moon, was leading higher 

In a gentle pastoral wise 

All the nightly deities ! 

Yea, and Titan threw abroad 

The far shining of his hair 

'Neath thy footsteps holy-fair, 

Owning thee the Son of God ; 

The Mind artificer of all, 

And his own fire's original ! 

And thou upon thy wing of will 
Mounting, — thy God-foot up till 
The neck of the blue firmament, — 
Soaring, didst alight content 
Where the spirit-spheres were singing, 
And the fount of good was springing, 



80 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

In the silent heaven ! 

Where Time is not with his tide 

Ever running, never weary, 

Drawing earthborn things aside 

Against the rocks ; nor yet are given 

The plagues death-bold that ride the dreary 

Tost matter-depths. Eternity 

Assumes the places which they yield ! 

Not aged, howsoe'er she held 

Her crown from everlastingly — 

At once of youth, at once of eld, 

While in that mansion which is hers, 

To God and gods she ministers ! 

"How the poet," remarks Mrs. Browning, "rises 

in his 'singing clothes' embroidered all over with 

the mythos and the philosophy! Yet his eye is 

to the Throne: and we must not call him half a 

heathen by reason of a Platonic idiosyncrasy, 

seeing that the esoteric of the most suspicious 

turnings of his phraseology is 'Glory to the true 

God/ " 

X 

Mvueo Xpiare 

This ode to Christ is the last and shortest, and 
since, as Bonar remarks, Mr. Chatfield has taken 
great liberty with it, we give it in the version of 
Williams, who has preserved its simplicity and 
brevity and is quoted by Bonar : 

Christ the Son 

Of God Most High, 
Look on me, thy suppliant one, 

With pitying eye. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 81 

Look on me with sorrow smitten, 
Look on me who these has written. 
Grant me to see thee, 

Jesus blest, 

In thine own light made manifest. 
If in thy glory clear 
Even such as I might e'er appear, 
Thee will I speak in holy hymn; 
Thou healer of the soul and limb ; 
And I in thee may find my rest, 
With Father and with Spirit blest. 

"In some things," Bonar remarks, Synesius 
"has sung well and written truly. Yet it was not 
altogether without reason that Mosheim called 
him a semi-Christian, though the expression is a 
hard one. His Neo-Platonism tinged his Chris- 
tianity, and called forth from Gibbon the question- 
ably eulogistic title of 'the philosophic bishop/ " 



Bpbraem tbe Sprfan 

(Died A. D. 379) 

From a chronological standpoint we should 
have mentioned Ephraem before ; but we preferred 
to put the Greek poets together who represented, 
so to speak, the period of formation of the Greek 
Church poetry, looked upon with prejudice at 
first because the Arians and Apollinarians em- 
ployed religious poetry and music as a popular 
means of commending and propagating their 
errors, and thereby brought discredit upon these 



82 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

arts. But while the prejudice was gradually 
overcome, yet none of the poetical productions 
mentioned before passed into the use of the 
Church, owing to their speculative theological and 
philosophical character and want of popular 
spirit. 

Different, however, was it with the Syrian 
Church. It was the first of all the Oriental 
churches to produce and admit into public worship 
a popular orthodox poetry, and this was success- 
fully done by Ephraem the Syrian, "the guitar of 
the Holy Ghost." Famous as is Ephraem as a 
hymn writer, yet he is not the first hymnologist of 
the Syrian Church. In this respect the palm be- 
longs to the celebrated Gnostic Bardesanes, who 
flourished in the second half of the second cen- 
tury. In this he is in some degree supported by 
Ephraem in his "Fifty-third Homily against 
Heretics" (ii, 553), where, although he does not 
actually assert that Bardesanes was the inventor 
of measures, yet he speaks of him in terms which 
show that he not only wrote hymns, but also im- 
plies that at least he revived and brought into 
fashion a taste for hymnology: 

For these things Bardesanes 

Uttered in his writings. 

He composed odes, 

And mingled them with music ; 

He harmonized psalms 

And introduced measures — 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 83 

By measures and balances 

He divided words. 

He thus concealed for the simple 

The bitter with the sweet ; 

For the sickly do not prefer 

Food which is wholesome. 

He sought to imitate David, 

To adorn himself with his beauty, 

So that he might be praised by the likeness. 

He therefore set in order 

Psalms one hundred and fifty, 

But he deserted the truth of David, 

And only imitated his numbers. 

It is to be regretted that of the hymns of Barde- 
sanes — which, it appears, in consequence of their 
high poetic merit, exercised an extensive influence 
over the religious opinions of the age in which he 
lived, and yet gave so much strength and popu- 
larity to his Gnostic errors — a very few fragments 
remain. 1 These fragments are to be found scat- 
tered through the works of Ephraem. Says Hahn 
("Bardesanus Gnosticus Syrorum Primus Hym- 
nologus," Lipsiae, 1819, p. 28): "Gnosticism itself 
is poetry ; it is not, therefore, wonderful that among 
its votaries true poets should have been found. 
Tertullian mentions the psalms of Valentinus ; and 
Marcus, his disciple, a cotemporary of Bardesanes, 
inculcated his Gnosticism in a song in which he 
introduced the ^Eons conversing." 

1 It is possible that the hymns preserved in the apocryphal Acts 
of Thomas are his. 



84 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, stands next 
in the history of this subject, both chronologically 
and for his successful cultivation of sacred poetry. 
He was educated in the language and wisdom of 
Greece, and there can be no question that he 
would make his knowledge of the exquisite met- 
rical compositions of that literature bear on the 
improvement of his own. This is said on the 
presumption that the accounts of the ecclesiastical 
historian Sozomen and Theodoret are credible. 
The former states ("Hist. Eccles.," lib. iii, c. 16) 
that "Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, having 
been well educated in Grecian literature, was the 
first who subjected his native language to meters 
and musical laws (rrpwrov fiergoig tcai vo\ioig fiovmKolg 
rrjv tt&tqiov (pcjv^v imayayelv), and adapted it to 
choirs of singers, as the Syrians now commonly 
chant — not, indeed, using the writings of Har- 
monius, but his numbers (rolg peteoi) ; for, not 
being altogether free from his father's heresy and 
the things which the Grecian philosophers boasted 
of concerning the soul, the body, and regenera- 
tion {-naXiyyevEaiag) , having set these to music, he 
united them with his own writings/ ' The notice 
of Theodoret ("Hist. Eccles.") is yet more brief. 
He says (lib. iv, c. 29) : "And since Harmonius, 
the son of Bardesanes, had formerly composed 
certain songs, and, mingling his impiety with the 
sweetness of music, enticed his hearers and allured 
them to destruction, having taken from him met- 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 85 

rical harmony (ttjv agfioviav rov fiehovg), Ephraem 
mixed godliness with it." This statement is not 
confirmed by Ephraem, who attributes to the 
father what the Greek historians ascribe to the 
son. Hahn admits, without any expressed hesi- 
tation, the testimony of the Greek historians, 
their mistake as to the invention of the meters 
excepted, and ingeniously traces to Harmonius 
certain features of the Syriac poetry ("Ueber den 
Gesang in der syrischen Kirche," p. 61). 

Before Ephraem, according to the catalogue of 
Ebedjesu, lived Simeon, bishop of Seleucia, who 
suffered martyrdom about the year 296. Two of 
his hymns are, according to Assemani, to be found 
in the sacred offices of the Chaldaeans. 

The greatest of all hymn writers whose works 
are extant, and whose hymns have been trans- 
lated into German as well as into English, was 
Ephraem Syrus. His hymns are regarded by 
critics as among the finest of the Eastern Church, 
being characterized by deep devotional feeling, 
and force and beauty of imagery. "They seem 
remarkable for childlike simplicity and much ten- 
derness of natural feeling. There is a simple 
joyousness about his thanksgivings. He seems 
to have loved to dwell on such themes as the 
infancy of the Saviour, the hosannas of the 
children, the happiness of those who died in 
childhood" ("The Voice of Christian Life in 
Song," p. 46). 



86 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

On the Nativity of Our Lord 

(Translated from the German of Zingerle by S. W. Dumeld, in 
"Latin Hymn Writers," p. 8.) 

Into his arms with tender love 

Did Joseph take his holy Son, 
And worshiped him as God, and saw 

The babe like any little one. 
His heart rejoiced above him there, 

For now the only God had birth; 
And pious fear upon him came 

Before this Judge of all the earth. 
Ah, what a lofty wonder ! 

Who gave me then this precious Son 

Of highest God, to be my child ? 
For I against thy mother here 

Had almost been by zeal beguiled ; 
And I had thought to cast her off — 

Alas, I saw not truly then 
How in her bosom she should bear 

The costliest treasure known to men, 
To make my poverty, so soon, 

The richest lot in mortal ken ! 

David, that king of ancient days, 

My ancestor, had placed the crown 
On his own head, and there it lay ; 

But I sank deep and further down ; 
I was no king, but in its stead 

A carpenter, and that alone. 
But now may crown my brow again 

That which befits a kingly throne, 
For here upon my bosom lies 

The Lord of lords, my very own ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 87 

The following specimens, when not otherwise 
stated, we subjoin from "The Voice of Christian 
Life in Song": 

Epiphany 

A Star shines forth in heaven suddenly, 
A wondrous orb, less than the sun, yet greater, — 
Less in its outward light, but greater in 
Its inward glory, pointing to a mystery : 
That morning star sent forth its beams afar 
Into the land of those who had no light ; 
Led them as blind men, by a way they knew not, 
Until they came and saw the Light of men, 
Offered their gifts, received eternal life, 
Worshiped, and went their way. 
Thus had the Son two heralds, one on high, 
And one below. Above, the star rejoiced; 
Below, the Baptist bore him record : 
Two heralds thus, one heavenly, one of earth ; 
That witnessing the nature of the Son, 
The majesty of God, and this, his human nature. 
O mighty wonder ! thus were they the heralds, 
Both of his Godhead and his manhood. 
Who held him only for a son of earth, 
To such the star proclaimed his heavenly glory ; 
Who held him only for a heavenly spirit, 
To such the Baptist spoke of him as man. 
And in the holy temple Simeon held the Babe 
Fast in his aged arms, and sang to him, — 
"To me, in thy mercy, 

An old man, thou art come; 
Thou layest my body 

In peace in the tomb. 
Thou soon wilt awake me, 

And bid me arise ; 



88 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Wilt lead me transfigured 
To paradise." 
Then Anna took the Babe upon her arms, 
And pressed her mouth upon his infant lips ; 
Then came the Holy Spirit on her lips, 
As erst upon Isaiah's, when the coal 
Had touched his silent lips, and opened them : 
With glowing- heart she sang, — 
"O Son of the King ! 

Though thy birthplace was mean, 
All-hearing, yet silent, 

All-seeing, unseen, 
Unknown, yet all-knowing, 
God, and yet Son of man, 
Praise to thy name !" 

On Palm Sunday 

Salem is shouting with her children, 
Praise Him who comes, and is to come, 

Hosanna, here and in the highest, 
Be to the Father's mighty Son. 

Praise him who once himself did humble 
In love to save our human race ; 

Praise him who all the world doth gladden 
With God his Father's boundless grace. 

O Lord, who would not gaze and wonder 
To see how low has stooped thy love ! 

The cherubim on fiery chariots 
Thy glory humbly bear above. 

And here an ass's foal doth bear thee, 
Thee in thy might and holiness, 

Because thou earnest in thy pity 
Our fallen race to serve and bless. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 89 

This day of joy to all creation, 

My happy soul shall have her psalm, 

And bear her branches of thanksgiving, 
As those bore branches once of palm. 

Before the foal the children strewed them, 

Owning thy hidden majesty; 
Hosanna to the Son of David, 

We with the children cry to thee. 

The Children in Paradise 

To thee, O God, be praises 
From lips of babes and sucklings, 
As in the heavenly meadows 
Like spotless lambs they feed. 

'Mid leafy trees they pasture, 
Thus saith the Blessed Spirit; 
And Gabriel, prince of angels, 
That happy flock doth lead. 

The messengers of heaven, 
With sons of light united, 
In purest regions dwelling, 
No curse or woe they see. 

And at the resurrection, 
With joy arise their bodies; 
Their spirits knew no bondage, 
Their bodies now are free. 

Brief here below their sojourn, 
Their dwelling is in Eden, 
And one bright day their parents 
Hope yet with them to be. 



go HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

On the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into 
Jerusalem 

He calls us to a day of gladness, 

Who came to us, the King's own Son ; 

Go forth with boughs of palm to meet him, 
And him with loud hosannas own. 

The angels are with us rejoicing, 
Angelic trumpets swell our song, 

All nations in one joy uniting, 
Hosanna sounds in every tongue. 

To thee, O Lord, loud praise ascendeth, 
From every creature in its kind ; 

Thee, with an awed and quiv'ring motion, 
Exalteth every waving wind. 

The heavens in their quiet beauty 

Praise thy essential majesty; 
The heights rejoice from which thou earnest, 

The depths spring up to welcome thee. 

The sea exults to feel thy footsteps, 
The land thy tread, Lord, knoweth well ; 

Our human nature brings thanksgivings 
Because thy Godhead there doth dwell. 

To-day the sun rejoicing shineth, 
With happy radiance tenfold bright, 

In homage to that Sun of glory 
Which brings to all the nations light. 

The moon shall shed her fairest luster, 
O'er all the heavens her softest glow, 

Thee on her radiant heights adoring, 
Who for our sakes hast stooped so low. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 91 

And all the starry hosts of heaven, 

In festive robes of light arrayed, 
Shall bring their festal hymns as offerings 

To Him who all so fair hath made. 

To-day the forests are rejoicing, 
Each tree its own sweet anthem sings, 

Because we wave their leafy branches 
As banners for the King of kings. 

To-day let all the brute creation, 

Rejoicing, be no longer dumb, 
For lowly on the foal he sitteth, 

The Heavenly One to us hath come. 

Let every village, every city, 

In happy tumult sing his name, 
Since even infant lips are shouting, 

"Blessed is he, the King who came !" 



Lament of a Father on the Death of His 
Little Son 

Child, by God's sweet mercy given 
To thy mother and to me, 
Entering this world of sorrows 
By his grace, so fair to see; 
Fair as some sweet flower in summer, 
Till death's hand on thee was laid, 
Scorched the beauty from my flower, 
Made the tender petals fade. 
Yet I dare not weep nor murmur, 
For I know the King of kings 
Leads thee to his marriage chamber, 
To the glorious bridal brings. 



92 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Nature fain would have me weeping, 
Love asserts her mournful right ; 
But I answer, they have brought thee 
To the happy world of light. 
And I fear that my lamentings, 
As I speak thy cherished name, 
Desecrate the royal dwelling; — 
Fear to meet deserved blame, 
If I press with tears of anguish 
Into the abode of joy; 
Therefore will I, meekly bowing, 
Offer thee to God, my boy. 

Yet thy voice, thy childish singing, 
Soundeth ever in my ears ; 
And I listen, and remember, 
Till mine eyes will gather tears, 
Thinking of thy pretty prattlings, 
And thy childish words of love ; 
But when I begin to murmur, 
Then my spirit looks above, 
Listens to the songs of spirits, — 
Listens, longing, wondering, 
To the ceaseless glad hosannas 
Angels at thy bridal sing. 

Christ the Companion op the Disembodied 

Soul 

(From Burgess, "Hymns and Homilies," p. 41.) 
As my provision for my journey, I have taken thee, 
O thou Son of God ! 

And when I am hungry I will eat of thee, 
Thou Saviour of the world! 
The fire will keep far off from my members, 
Perceiving in me the savor of thy body and blood. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 93 

Baptism shall become to me 

A ship which cannot sink. 

And I shall see thee there, O Lord, 

In the day of the resurrection. 

I was living in my place of sojourn 

(Thus speaks the soul), 

But the Master of the house sent to me 

And I am not permitted to continue. 

The messenger thus addressed me: 

"Depart from the house, and vacate its chambers !" 

my body, my temporary home, 
Remain here in peace ! 

And in the day of the resurrection 

1 shall see thee rejoicing. 

The lictors came with speed, 

But I was ignorant of it; 

The messenger stood at the door, 

But I did not perceive him ; 

Deliver me, Lord, from the judgment of the devil, 

Who hateth thy renowned children; 

And with thy holy ones may I attain 

To the house of the kingdom; 

That I may utter a song of praise, 

And with them glorify thee. 

How bitter is this cup 
Which death hath mingled ! 
And how terrible is the time, 
And how grievous the hour, 
Which calleth for thee! 
The soul saith to the body, 
"Remain thou here in peace, 
O much-loved habitation, 
In which I once dwelt 
While the Lord was willing." 



94 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

How saddened is the sinner 

In his heart at that hour, 

When the King Messiah shall sit 

Upon his dreadful judgment-seat; 

And all tribes shall stand before him, 

And all secrets of the heart shall be revealed. 

Terrible is the tribunal ! 

Terrible is the Judge, and that season ! 

Blessed is he whom thy favor 

Shall protect, O Lord! 



Sabbath Hymn 

This and the following are from Bonar 

Glory to the glorious One, 
Good and great, our God alone, 
Who this day hath glorified, 
First and best of all beside, 
Making it, for every clime, 
Of all times the sweetest time. 

From the beginning, day of days, 
Set apart for holy praise, 
When he bade the willing earth 
All its hidden stores bring forth, 
When he gave the shining heaven, 
Then to man this day was given. 

On this day the Son of God 
Left his three-days' dark abode; 
In the greatness of his might 
Rising to the upper light. 
On this day the Church puts on 
Glory, beauty, robe, and crown. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 95 

On this day of days the Lord, 
Faithful to his ancient word, 
On his burning chariot borne, 
Shall in majesty return. 
King of kings, he comes in might, 
From his heavenly home of light. 

To his own Jerusalem, 
Old Judea's brightest gem, 
To the hill of Jebus, see, 
King Messiah, cometh he: 
With his cross to bless and save, 
.With his cross to spoil the grave. 

He shall speak and earth shall hear, 
Rending rock shall quake with fear, 
And the waking dead shall come 
From the silence of the tomb. 
Shaken heavens and shattered earth 
Then shall rise to second birth. 

To the kingdom promised long, 
With its shining angel throng, 
Righteous vengeance to fulfill, 
Recompense for good and ill, 
Adam's race from dust to call, 
Lo, he cometh, Judge of all ! 

Then the glory to his own ! 

Then the kingdom and the crown ! 

Then the sinner's hope shall close ! 

Then begin his endless woes ! 

Then he knocks, but knocks in vain — 

Who shall break his iron chain? 



9 5 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Earth is fleeing, fleeing fast, 
And its beauty fades at last; 
O beloved, then, awake, 
Bonds of carnal slumber break, 
Wake, beloved, watch and pray, 
While remains one hour of day ! 

Death, it cometh — oh, beware ! 
Judgment cometh — oh, prepare ! 
Steadfast, steadfast let us stand, 
For the Judge is nigh at hand; 
Steadfast let us rest each night, 
Steadfast wake at morning light. 

Glory, glory, glory be, 
Gracious God and Lord, to thee ! 
To the Father and the Son, 
To the Spirit, Three in One ; 
Thus we now thy mercy praise, 
Thus through everlasting days. 



Battle Song Against Satan 

Jehovah, judge my cause, 

Avenge me of my foe, 
Fight against Satan and his host : 

Oh, lay the strong one low ! 

I have cast off his yoke, 
Renounced his cursed sway; 

For this he doubly hates, and longs 
To seize me as his prey. 

To thee, and to thy cross, 
For help, O Lord, I flee ; — 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 97 

He must prevail, if thou do not, 
O Lord, deliver me ! 



For thou hast vanquished him ! 

Let him not conquer me ; 
Put him to shame, O Lord my God ; 

Give me the victory. 

It is not strength that wins: 
My weakness is my shield; 

In lowly trust we fight the fight, 
And meekness wins the field. 



Give me the lowly heart, 

Cast out each thought of pride, 

Let gentleness and love come in, 
And as my guests abide. 

Thy will, not mine, be done; 

I would not choose my own ; 
But let me ever, ever be 

Thy servant, Lord, alone. 

Jesus, to thee I flee, 

Jesus, thy cross I clasp; 
Save me from Satan's hellish power, 

Oh, pluck me from his grasp. 

So shall I praise thee, Lord, 
And thy great name adore, 

With Father and with Spirit one, 
Forever, evermore. 



98 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

On the Death of Children 

(Translation by Burgess.) 

How bitter is the grief 
For the death of childhood ; 
How grievous the separation 
Of the infant from its mother: — 
Train it up, Lord, in thy dwelling! 

This day afflicts 

The fathers through their sons; 
And death now breaks 
The staff of their old age: — 
Lord, may they lean on thee ! 

This day removes 
The beloved one from its mother, 
And cuts off the arm 
Which would have been her stay: — 
In thee, Lord, may she trust ! 

This day separates 
The little one from its parent, 
And leaves her in the wilderness 
Of suffering and grief : — 
Do thou, Lord, comfort her ! 

This day divides 

The suckling child from the breast; 
And the mother wails and grieves 
Because her intercourse with it hath perished 
May she see it in the kingdom ! 

O happy infancy 
Which hath gained paradise! 
Alas ! for old age 
Which still remains in sorrow! — 
Lord, be thou its helper! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 99 

Bnatolfus 
(Died A. D. 458) 

With Anatolius of Constantinople a new period 
in Greek poetry commences. He was not only 
the first to renounce the tyranny of the classic 
meter and strike out a new path, but also paved 
the way for the classical period of Greek Church 
poetry which is contained in the liturgical books, 
especially in the twelve volumes of the "Menaea," 
corresponding to the Latin Breviary, and which 
consists for the most part of poetic or half -poetic 
odes in rhythmic prose. But before we speak of 
Anatolius it will be necessary to explain those 
hymnological terms which were used among 
Greek hymnists and which will often recur in the 
following pages. 

The main collection of hymns is contained in 
the so-called "Menasa," which contain in twelve 
volumes (one for each month) the daily devotions. 
Besides the "Menasa" we have the "Paracletice," 
or the "Great Octoechus," in eight parts (for 
eight weeks and Sundays), and the small "Oc- 
toechus," containing the Sunday services of the 
preceding volume. Another collection is the 
"Triodion" for the Lent season, and the "Pente- 
costarion ,, for the Easter season. According to 
Neale these volumes together would form at least 
five thousand closely printed double-column quar- 
to pages, of which four thousand pages would be 

LOfft 



ioo HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

poetry. Many are still unpublished and preserved 
in convent libraries. The hymns celebrate the 
Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, the great festi- 
vals, and especially also the Virgin Mary, the 
saints and martyrs, and sacred icons; but the 
service books also contain a "deluge of worthless 
compositions: tautology repeated till it becomes 
almost sickening; the merest commonplace, again 
and again decked in the tawdry shreds of tragic 
language, and twenty or thirty times presenting 
the same thought in slightly varying terms.' ' 
The Greek service books are also music books, 
because some of the older hymnists weje also 
melodists and composed the music; hence they 
were called fieXodoi as well as notTjTai, in distinction 
from the mere hymnographers, vfj,voyga<f)oi. 

As to the form of the hymns, they consist of 
stanzas called "troparia"; the first troparion is 
called "hirmos," because it strikes the tune and 
draws the others after it. A number of troparia 
— from three to twenty or more — form an ode; 
three little odes are a "triodion"; nine odes or 
three triodia form a "canon." The odes usually 
end with a doxology (doxa) and a stanza in praise 
of Mary the mother of God (theotokion) . A hymn 
with a tune of its own is called an "idiomelon." 

Passing over several other designations of vari- 
ous kinds of poems, which are fully discussed by 
Christ in the "Prolegomena," pp. liv-lxxiii, we will 
only state that the "canons," which are the highest 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 101 

effort of Greek hymnody, sung for the most part 
at Lauds (elg rdv optfpov), are founded principally 
on nine scriptural canticles, namely: i. Song of 
Moses after the passage of the Red Sea(Exod. 15) ; 

2. Song of Moses in Deuteronomy (chapter 32); 

3. Song of Hannah; ( 4. That of Habakkuk; 5. 
That of Isaiah (chapter 26. 9-20); 6. That of 
Jonah; 7. That of the Three Children; 8. The 
remainder of the Prayer of the Three Children 
(Benedicite) ; 9. The Magnificat and Benedictus. 

After this digression we return to Anatolius, 
who, as Neale says, was "the first poet who eman- 
cipated himself from the tyranny of the laws of 
classic meter, and who boldly struck out the new 
path of harmonious prose. He had been the 
legate from the arch heretic Dioscurus to the 
emperor's court, and at the death of S. Flavian, 
in consequence of the violence received in the 
'Robbers' Meeting* at Ephesus, A. D. 449, was, 
by the influence of his pontiff, raised to the vacant 
throne of Constantinople. He soon, however, vin- 
dicated his orthodoxy, and in the Council of Chal- 
cedon he procured the enactment of the famous 
twenty-eighth canon, by which Constantinople 
was raised to the second place among patriarchal 
sees. Anatolius died in A. D. 458. His compo- 
sitions are not numerous, and are almost all short, 
but they are usually very spirited.' ' 

A beautiful "Evening Hymn," commencing, 
T77V rjfiipav dieM&v, is ascribed to Anatolius by 



102 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Neale, though not mentioned by Christ. Says 
Neale: "This little hymn, which, I believe, is not 
used in the public service of the Church, is a 
great favorite in the Greek Isles. Its peculiar 
style and evident antiquity may well lead to the 
belief that it is the work of our present author. 
It is to the scattered hamlets of Chios and Mity- 
lene what Bishop Ken's 'Evening Hymn' is to 
the villages of our own land, and its melody is 
singularly plaintive and soothing.' ' Of the sub- 
joined specimens, Christ mentions only the 
fourth. 

Evening Hymn 

The day is past and over : 

All thanks, O Lord, to thee! 
I pray thee that offenseless 

The hours of dark may be. 
O Jesu, keep me in thy sight, 
And save me through the coming night ! 

The joys of day are over: 

I lift my heart to thee, 
And call on thee, that sinless 

The hours of sin may be. 
O Jesu, make their darkness light, 
And save me through the coming night! 

The toils of day are over: 

I raise the hymn to thee; 
And ask that free from peril 

The hours of fear may be. 
O Jesu, keep me in thy sight, 
And guard me through the coming night ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 103 

Lighten mine eyes, O Saviour, 

Or sleep in death shall I; 
And he my wakeful tempter 

Triumphantly shall cry, 
"He could not make the darkness light; 
Nor guard them through the hours of night !" 

Be thou my soul's preserver, 

O God; for thou dost know 
How many are the perils 

Through which I have to go. 
Lover of men ! O hear my call, 
And guard and save me from them all ! 

For Christmas 

Meya nai Trapddot-ov tiavfia 

A great and mighty wonder ! 

A full and holy cure ! 
The Virgin bears the Infant, 

With Virgin-honor pure ! 

The Word becomes Incarnate 

And yet remains on high : 
And cherubim sing anthems 

To shepherds from the sky. 

And we with them triumphant 

Repeat the hymn again: 
"To God on high be glory, 

And peace on earth to men !" 

While thus they sing your Monarch, 

Those bright angelic bands, 
Rejoice, ye vales and mountains J 



Ye oceans, clap your hands 



104 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Since all he comes to ransom, 

By all be he adored, 
The Infant born in Bethlehem, 

The Saviour and the Lord! 

And idol forms shall perish, 
And error shall decay, 

And Christ shall wield the scepter, 
Our Lord and God for aye. 



In Bethlehem 

(A translation of this Christmas hymn was published — probably 
also by Neale — in the "Christian Remembrancer," London, 1859, 
p. 302.) 

In Bethlehem is He born ! 

Maker of all things, everlasting God ! 

He opens Eden's gate, 

Monarch of ages ! Thence the fiery sword 

Gives glorious passage; thence, 

The severing mid-wall overthrown, the powers 

Of earth and heaven are one; 

Angels and men renew their ancient league, 

The pure rejoin the pure, 

In happy union ! Now the virgin-womb 

Like some cherubic throne 

Containeth Him, the Uncontainable : 

Bears him, whom while they bear 

The seraphs tremble ! bears him, as he comes 

To shower upon the world 

The fullness of his everlasting love ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 105 

For Saint Stephen's Day 

To> (3aaiXel kcli Seanorxi 
(Quoted by Christ, p. 117.) 
The Lord and King of all things 

But yesterday was born: 
And Stephen's glorious offering 

His birthtide shall adorn. 
No pearls of orient splendor, 

No jewels can he show; 
But with his own true heart's blood 

His shining vestments glow. 
Come, ye that love the martyrs, 

And pluck the flowers of song, 
And weave them in a garland 

For this our suppliant throng : 
And cry, — O Thou that shinest 

In grace's brightest ray, 
Christ's valiant Protomartyr, 

For peace and favor pray. 
[Thou first of all confessors, 

Thou of all deacons crown, 
Of every following athlete 

The glory and renown: 
Make supplication, standing 

Before Christ's royal throne, 
That he would give the kingdom, 

And for our sins atone !] 

(The words in brackets are not found in Christ.) 
On Christ Calming the Storm 

Zocpepdg TpiKVfj,iag 

Fierce was the wild billow, 
Dark was the night; 



io6 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Oars labored heavily; 

Foam glimmered white; 
Trembled the mariners; 

Peril was nigh; 
Then said the God of God, 

"Peace! It is I!" 

Ridge of the mountain-wave, 

Lower thy crest ! 
Wail of Euroclydon, 

Be thou at rest! 
Sorrow can never be, — 

Darkness must fly, — 
Where saith the Light of Light, 

"Peace! It is IT 

Jesu, Deliverer ! 

Come thou to me: 
Soothe thou my voyaging 

Over life's sea! 
Thou, when the storm of death 

Roars, sweeping by, 
Whisper, O Truth of Truth, 

"Peace! It isl!" 



Bnfcrew of Ctete 

(A. D. 660-732) 

Andrew of Crete was born at Damascus, became 
monk at Jerusalem, deacon at Constantinople, 
archbishop of Crete, took part in the Monothelitic 
Synod of 712, but afterward returned to ortho- 
doxy. (The translation is that of Neale.) 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 107 

A Eucharistic Hymn 

To fieya (ivonfoov 

O the mystery, passing wonder, 

When, reclining at the board, 
"Eat," Thou saidst to thy disciples, 

"That True Bread with quickening stored: 
Drink in faith the healing chalice 

From a dying God outpoured." 

Then the glorious upper chamber 

A celestial tent was made, 
When the bloodless rite was offered, 

And the soul's true service paid, 
And the table of the feasters 

As an altar stood displayed. 

Christ is now our mighty Pascha, 

Eaten for our mystic bread: 
Take we of his broken body, 

Drink we of the blood he shed, 
As a lamb led out to slaughter, 

And for this world offered. 

To the Twelve spake Truth eternal, 

To the branches spake the Vine: 
"Never more from this day forward 

Shall I taste again this wine, 
Till I drink it in the kingdom 

Of my Father, and with mine." 

Thou hast stretched those hands for silver 

That had held the immortal food ; 
With those lips that late had tasted 

Of the body and the blood, 



108 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Thou hast given the kiss, O Judas ; 
Thou hast heard the woe bestowed. 

Christ to all the world gives banquet 

On that most celestial meat: 
Him, albeit with lips all earthly, 

Yet with holy hearts we greet: 
Him, the sacrificial Pascha, 

Priest and Victim all complete. 

For Palm Sunday 

'IrjGovg vnep rov Koofiov 

Jesus, hastening for the world to suffer, 

Enters in, Jerusalem, to thee: 
With his Twelve he goeth forth to offer 

That free sacrifice he came to be. 

They that follow him with true affection 
Stand prepared to suffer for his name: 

Be we ready then for man's rejection, 
For the mockery, the reproach, the shame. 

Now, in sorrow, sorrow finds its healing : 
In the form wherein our father fell, 

Christ appears, those quick'ning wounds revealing, 
Which shall save from sin and death and hell. 

Now, Judaea, call thy Priesthood nigh thee ! 

Now for Deicide prepare thy hands ! 
Lo ! thy Monarch, meek and gentle, by thee ! 

Lo ! the Lamb and Shepherd in thee stands ! 

To thy monarch, Salem, give glad greeting ! 
Willingly he hastens to be slain 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 109 

For the multitude his entrance meeting 
With their false hosannas' ceaseless strain. 
"Blest is He that comes," they cry, 
"On the cross for man to die !" 

Ov yap (3XeTT£ig rovg rapdrrovrag 

Christian ! dost thou see them 

On the holy ground, 
How the troops of Midian 

Prowl and prowl around? 
Christian ! up and smite them, 

Counting gain but loss: 
Smite them by the merit 

Of the holy cross ! 

Christian ! dost thou feel them, 

How they work within, 
Striving, tempting, luring, 

Goading into sin? 
Christian ! never tremble ! 

Never be downcast! 
Smite them by the virtue 

Of the Lenten fast ! 

Christian ! dost thou hear them, 

How they speak thee fair? 
"Always fast and vigil ? 

Always watch and prayer?" 
Christian! say but boldly: 

"While I breathe I pray!" 
Peace shall follow battle, 

Night shall end in day. 

"Well I know thy trouble, 
O my servant true; 



no HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Thou art very weary, — 

I was weary too ; 
But that toil shall make thee, 

Some day, all mine own, 
But the end of sorrow 

Shall be near my throne." 

Tov ev TTpocfrrjTCug 

(Three idiomela from the Vespers of the Nativity of Saint John 
the Baptist. The poems are in the form of an address to Saint 
John, each of them closing with an appeal. The poem, which is 
found in the "Menaea," appointed for the festival of Saint John 
the Baptist, is found in Littledale's translation in "The People's 
Hymnal.") 

The first of all apostles, 

Of all the prophets last, 
A man, yet like the angels, 

On whom hath blessing past, 

The voice and the forerunner 

Of God's Eternal Word, 
The true and faithful soldier 

Of Jesus Christ the Lord: 

Elizabeth in gladness 

Hath brought him forth to-day, 

And Zacharias marvels, 
And dumbness puts away. 

As fits the voice's father, 

He speaks clear prophecy: 
"Thou shalt be called the prophet, 

O child, of God Most High. 

"And thou shalt go before Him, 
And shalt prepare his way, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH m 

As herald of repentance, 
The dawn before the Day." 

The prophet sprung from prophet, 

Of barren womb the child, 
The greatest born of women, 

The dweller in the wild, 

The voice of grace celestial, 

The herald of the Sun, 
Hath come to-day among us 

His warning course to run, 

To tell of Him he greeted, 

Child yet within the womb, 
The Lamb of God, whose mercy 

Hath ransomed us from doom. 

Then unto Christ be glory, 

Who sent his saint before, 
To Father and to Spirit 

Like praise for evermore. Amen. 



■Jobn of Damascus 

(Died about A. D. 780) 

John of Damascus stands in the first rank of 
Greek hymnists. He was the last but one of the 
fathers of the Greek Church, and the greatest of 
her poets. As a poet he had a principal share in 
the "Octoechus," which contains the Sunday serv- 
ices of the Eastern Church. He is the author of 
a canon for Christmas Day, beginning, "Eoooe 



ii2 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Xabv y T&avfiarovpy&v AeoiroTrjg, and the odes are sung 
in service alternately with those of Cosmas's 
Xgiarog yevvdrai' dogdaare (which see on page 134). 
We subjoin the following odes from this canon 
in the translation of W. C. Dix, as published in 
the "Lyra Messianica," pp. 75, 93, 112: 

I 

"Effoxre Xaov t ^avjiarovgyibv 

The wonder-working Master 

Once deigned the tribes to save, 
"When dry land for his people 

He made the Red Sea wave: 
Now born for us, all willing, 

Of Maiden pure and sweet, 
The path to heavenly mansions 

He opens to our feet. 

The bush unburned most truly 

Portrays the holy womb, 
Whence sprung the Word Incarnate 

To loose the ancient doom. 
And all the bitter sorrows 

Of Eva's curse to stay, 
The Word, who higher wended 

Our sin to do away. 

To him, with God the Father 

In substance truly One, 
One with mankind, from all men 

Be laud forever done; 
God to our human nature, 

To our mortality, 
In form conjoined, we worship, 

And him we glorify. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 113 

Thee, Word of God Eternal, 

Who wast before the sun, 
The star showed to the Magi, 

A poor and suffering One: 
Thee, swaddled in a manger, 

They saw with glad accord, 
And hailed thee with rejoicing, 

True Man, and yet the Lord. 



II 

"Nevaov Trgdg vfxvovg 

Our hymns receive, Redeemer; 

The foe's high brow bring low; 
Thou from on high beholdest 

Each sin which works our woe, 
Yet us, thine own, Most Holy, 

Who steadfastly believe, 
Thy minstrels truly faithful, 

Thyself in love receive. 

The band of herdsmen chosen 

The strange new sight to see, 
Was troubled at beholding 

The wondrous mystery: 
The offspring of a Maiden, 

Incarnate without seed, 
This, this the passing marvel 

No human mind can read. 

O sight all unaccustomed, 
Their Monarch, Christ the Lord, 

They see by tuneful cohorts 
Of seraphim adored ; 



ii 4 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

In tender loving-kindness 
He comes, who rules the sky, 

And born of Maid unwedded, 
Fulfills his promise high. 

Erewhile without a body, 

The Essence flesh was made, 
The Word took matter to him 

From Mary, stainless Maid: 
That to himself us sinners, 

The guilty sons of men, 
Fallen chiefs of his creation, 

He might draw back again. 

Ill 
Tivovg PqotsIov 

Habakkuk in ancient song 
Foretells the new creation ; 

Fellow of the prophet-throng 
And herald of salvation, 

Unto him was given to see 

Types of wondrous mystery. 

Now the Word to mortals' aid 
From Virgin-mount hath hasted, 

To frame anew the worlds he made, 
To heal what sin has wasted, 

Coming from the sunless gates, 

Leading all where light awaits. 

Highest, thou our flesh didst take, 
Wast born an Infant lowly, 

Didst thyself man's equal make, 
The Uncreate, the Holy, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 115 

Thus to purge the venom dread, 
Flowing from the Serpent's head. 

Gentiles once corrupt, rejoice, 
Now saved from condemnation ; 

Lift your hands with joyful voice 
And tuneful exultation; 

Christ adoring, whom alone 

Benefactor now ye own. 

From the root of Jesse sprung, 

O Virgin, born of mortal ; 
Christ, ere worlds with Godhead One, 

Hath passed thy sealed portal ; 
When it pleased him coming thus 
Meekly to abide with us. 

Odes on the Resurrection * 
I 

'Avaardaecjg ruiega 

'Tis the day of resurrection: 

Earth, tell it out abroad ! 
The Passover of gladness ! 

The Passover of God! 
From death to life eternal, 

From this world to the sky, 
Our Christ hath brought us over, 

With hymns of victory. 

Our hearts be pure from evil, 

That we may see aright 
The Lord in rays eternal 

Of resurrection light. 

1 Where not otherwise noted the translations are those of Neale. 



n6 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

And, listening to his accents, 
May hear, so calm and plain, 

His own "All hail !" and, hearing, 
May raise the victor strain ! 

Now let the heavens be joyful ! 

Let earth her song begin ! 
Let the round world keep triumph, 

And all that is therein: 
Invisible and visible 

Their notes let all things blend, 
For Christ the Lord hath risen, 

Our joy that hath no end. 

II 

Aevre rrdfia irio)fj,ev 

Come, let us drink of that new river, 
Not from barren rock divinely poured, 

But the fount of life that is forever 
From the sepulcher of Christ the Lord. 

All the world hath bright illumination, — 

Heaven and earth and things beneath the earth 

'Tis the festival of all creation : 

Christ hath risen, who gave creation birth. 

Yesterday with Thee in burial lying, 
Now to-day with thee arisen I rise ; 

Yesterday the partner of thy dying, 
With thyself upraise me to the skies. 

Ill 

*Enl t^c tieiag (f>vXaK7Jg 

Stand on thy watchtower, Habakkuk the Seer, 
And show the Angel, radiant in his light : 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 117 

"To-day," saith he, "salvation shall appear, 
Because the Lord hath risen, as God of Might." 

The male that opes the Virgin's womb is he ; 

The Lamb of whom his faithful people eat; 
Our truer Passover from blemish free; 

Our very God, whose name is all complete. 

This yearling Lamb, our Sacrifice most blest, 
Our glorious Crown, for all men freely dies : 

Behold our Pascha, beauteous from his rest, 
The healing Sun of Righteousness arise. 

Before the ark, a type to pass away, 
David of old time danced : we, holier race, 

Seeing the Antitype come forth to-day, 
Hail, with a shout, Christ's own almighty grace. 



IV 

'Optipioufiev optipov 

Let us rise in early morning, 
And, instead of ointments, bring 

Hymns of praises to our Master, 
And his resurrection sing : 

We shall see the Sun of Justice 
Risen with healing on his wing. 

Thy unbounded loving-kindness, 
They that groaned in Hades' chain, 

Prisoners, from afar beholding, 
Hasten to the light again; 

And to that eternal Pascha 
Wove the dance and raised the strain. 



n8 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Go ye forth, his saints, to meet him ! 

Go with lamps in every hand! 
From the sepulcher he riseth: 

Ready for the Bridegroom stand: 
And the Pascha of salvation 

Hail, with his triumphant band. 



V 

KaTTjX-det; kv rolg 

Into the dim earth's lowest parts descending, 
And bursting by Thy might the infernal chain 

That bound the prisoners, Thou, at three days' ending, 
As Jonah from the whale, hast risen again. 

Thou brakest not the seal, thy surety's token, 
Arising from the tomb, who left'st in birth 

The portals of virginity unbroken, 

Opening the gates of heaven to sons of earth. 

Thou, Sacrifice ineffable and living, 

Didst to the Father by thyself atone 
As God eternal : resurrection giving 

To Adam, general parent, by thine own. 

vr 

'O natdag en Ka\dvov 

Who from the fiery furnace saved the Three, 
Suffers as mortal; that, His Passion o'er, 
This mortal, triumphing o'er death, might be 
Vested with immortality once more: 
He whom our fathers still confessed 
God over all, forever blest. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 119 

The women with their ointment seek the tomb : 

And whom they mourned as dead, with many a tear, 
They worship now, joy dawning on their gloom, 
As living God, as mystic Passover; 
Then to the Lord's disciples gave 
The tidings of the vanquished grave. 

We keep the festal of the death of death; 

Of hell o'erthrown : the first fruits, pure and bright, 
Of life eternal; and with joyous breath 

Praise Him that won the victory by his might : 
Him whom our fathers still confessed 
God over all, forever blest. 

All-hallowed festival, in splendor born ! 

Night of salvation and of glory ! Night 
Fore-heralding the resurrection morn ! 

When from the tomb the everlasting Light, 
A glorious frame once more his own, 
Upon the world in splendor shone. 

VII 

Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise, 

That best and greatest shinest ! 
Lady and Queen and Day of days, 

Of things divine, divinest ! 
On thee our praises Christ adore 
Forever and for evermore. 

Come, let us taste the Vine's new fruit 

For heavenly joy preparing: 
To-day the branches with the Root 

In resurrection sharing: 
Whom as true God our hymns adore 
Forever and for evermore. 



120 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Rise, Sion, rise, and looking forth, 
Behold thy children round thee ! 

From east and west, and south and north, 
Thy scattered sons have found thee ! 

And in thy bosom Christ adore 

Forever and for evermore. 

O Father! O co-equal Son! 

O co-eternal Spirit! 
In persons Three, in substance One, 

And One in power and merit ; 
In thee baptized, we thee adore 
Forever and for evermore ! 

VIII 

$G)TZ£bv, (fXOTL^OV 

(Translated by W. C. Dix, in "Lyra Messianica," p. 318; another 
translation by Neale.) 

Shine ! shine ! O new Jerusalem, 
With light for beauteous diadem ; 
Sion, rejoice! exultant be! 
God's glory now has risen on thee. 

And thou, pure Mother of our God, 
The resurrection tell abroad ; 
Be glad and sing, thou spotless One, 
In this arising of thy Son. 

O voice most heavenly ! voice most dear ! 
O sweetest voice ! by which we hear 
The promise thou, O Christ, dost send, 
To be with us until the end. 

The faithful ones of thy one fold, 
This anchor of our hope we hold; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 121 

The Bride exults, and we with her, 
O great, O sacred Passover ! 

Grant us, O Christ, more perfectly 
Hereafter to partake of thee; 
To win, O Wisdom, Word, and Might, 
Thy kingdom's day that hath no night. 

IX 

Et KCU EV Td<f>(M> 
(By W. C. Dix, ut supra, p. 330.) 
If the dark and awful tomb 

Thou, immortal One, hast known, 
Rising, in thy deathless bloom, 
Hades thou hast overthrown. 

Yes, as Victor thou hast burst 

All bands of hell, and said, 
Hail ! to those who sought thee first, 

Bearing ointment for the dead. 

Peace, thy earliest, sweetest gift, 

Unto thine apostles given ; 
All the fallen thou didst lift 

From the gates of hell to heaven. 

X 

Hgohapovaai rdv op&pov 
(By W. C. Dix, p. 347) 
They who with Mary came 
Before the dawn of day, 
Soon found that from the sepulcher 
The stone was rolled away. 



122 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Then to those fearful souls 
The shining angel said, — 

Him who in light eternal dwells 
Why seek ye with the dead? 

The graveclothes see, and haste 
The joyful news to tell; 

The Lord is risen, and he hath been 
The death of death and hell. 

He is the Son of God 
Who saves the human race; 

No more shall death destroy, no more 
The ancient foe have place. 



Pentecostal Odes 

(Translated by W. C. Dix, in "Lyra Mystica," pp. 202-204.) 

I 

2vfi(f)G)vov edporjaev 

The tuneful sound of music 

Burst sweetly forth of old, 
In honor of the idol, 

The lifeless form of gold; 
We cry, with awe adoring 

The Spirit' s radiant Flame, — 
Sole Trinity, we bless thee, 

For evermore the same. 

They who the voice prophetic 

Knew not as Word of thine, 
The unknown tongues regarded 

As drunkenness of wine ; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 123 

But we, in faith devoutly, 

Give God the honor due — 
Sole Trinity, we bless thee, 

Who makest all things new. 

The prophet Joel looking 

Upon the face of God, 
Astonied heard him speaking, 

And told his words abroad — 
They whom I give my Spirit 

Shall cry, thus filled with might — 
Sole Trinity, we bless thee, 

O everlasting Light. 

The third day — hour abounded 

With grace, that we might know 
The source of blessing, threefold, 

Whence benedictions flow: 
And now, on this glad morning, 

The best and chief of days — 
Sole Trinity, we bless thee 

In hymns of grateful praise. 

II 

Avei ra deofia 

Into the fiery furnace flung, 

The Holy Children sweetly sung, 

And singing, turned the fire to dew 

Which quenched each flame that leaped anew : 

And this the strain their love expressed, 

God of our fathers, thou art blessed. 

What time the Twelve, inspired of God, 
Redemption's story sent abroad, 



124 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

The working of the breath divine, 
The unbelievers deemed new wine: 
But we, through this same Spirit see 
The Three in One, the One in Three. 

The Nature One we praise and bless, 
The glorious Trinity confess; 
Co-equal, Co-eterne, the Same, 
We lift on high the Threefold Name; 
And laud the faith of old professed — 
God of our fathers, thou art blessed. 

Taxslav naX OTa&rjpav didov 

(This forms a "stanza" in the office for the Sunday of the Pente- 
cost in the Greek Church. The translation of W. C. Dix is subjoined 
from "The People's Hymnal.") 

Jesu, give thy servants 

Consolation sure; 
Haste thee to us, bringing 

Blessings that endure. 

Take away our sorrows, 

Make us glad in heart ; 
We are full of trouble, 

If from thee we part. 

Go not thou far from us 

In our time of need ; 
Jesu, if thou leave us, 

Mourners we indeed. 

O prevent us alway, 

Be thou ever near, 
Light when falls the darkness, 

Hope in times of fear. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 125 

Thou the Omnipresent, 

Us with thee unite ; 
So shall every sorrow 

Soon be put to flight. 

As to thine apostles 

Thou wast ever near, 
So within our spirits, 

Tarry, Saviour dear. 

Joined to thee in meekness, 

Merciful, we pray, 
Turn our tears to gladness, 

Turn our night to day. 

Comfort hearts that long so, 

With thy Spirit's grace; 
Thou to weary pilgrims 

Rock and Resting-place. Ame 

Aevre reXevralov 

The following lines, says Neale, "form perhaps 

one of the most striking portions of the service of 

the Eastern Church. They are sung toward the 

conclusion of the Funeral Office, while the friends 

and relations are, in turn, kissing the corpse ; the 

priest does so last of all. Immediately afterward 

it is borne to the grave ; the priest casts the first 

earth on the coffin, with the words, 'The earth is 

the Lord's, and all that therein is : the compass of 

the world, and they that dwell therein.' " 

Take the last kiss, — the last forever ! 
Yet render thanks amidst your gloom : 



126 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

He, severed from his home and kindred, 

Is passing onward to the tomb: 
For earthly labors, earthly pleasures, 
And carnal joys, he cares no more: 
Where are his kinsfolk and acquaintance? 
They stand upon another shore. 
Let us say, around him pressed, 
Grant him, Lord, eternal rest ! 

The hour of woe and separation, 

The hour of falling tears is this; 
Him that so lately was among us 

For the last time of all we kiss : 
Up to the grave to be surrendered, 

Sealed with the monumental stone, 
A dweller in the house of darkness, 

Amidst the dead to lie alone. 
Let us say, around him pressed, 
Grant him, Lord, eternal rest ! 

Life, and life's evil conversation, 

And all its dreams, are passed away : 
The soul hath left her tabernacle: 

Black and unsightly grows the clay. 
The golden vessel here lies broken: 

The tongue no voice of answer knows : 
Hushed is sensation, stilled is motion ; 

Toward the tomb the dead man goes. 
Let us cry with heart's endeavor, 
Grant him rest that is forever ! 

What is our life? A fading flower; 

A vapor, passing soon away; 
The dewdrops of the early morning:— 

Come, gaze upon the tombs to-day. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 127 

Where now is youth ? Where now is beauty, 

And grace of form, and sparkling eye? 
All, like the summer grass, are withered; 
All are abolished utterly! 
While our eyes with grief grow dim, 
Let us weep to Christ for him! 

Woe for that bitter, bitter moment, 

The fearful start, the parting groan, 
The wrench of anguish, from the body 

When the poor soul goes forth alone ! 
Hell and destruction are before her; 

Earth in its truest worth she sees ; 
A flickering shade; a dream of error; 

A vanity of vanities. 

Sin in this world let us flee, 
That in heaven our place may be. 

Draw nigh, ye sons of Adam, viewing 

A likeness of yourselves in clay : 
Its beauty gone; its grace disfigured; 

Dissolving in the tomb's decay; 
The prey of worms and of corruption, 

In silent darkness moldering on; 
Earth gathers round the coffin, hiding 

The brother, now forever gone. 
(Yet we cry, around him pressed, 
Grant him, Lord, eternal rest ! 

When, hurried forth by fearful angels, 

The soul forsakes her earthly frame, 
Then friends and kindred she forgetteth, 

And this world's cares have no more claim; 
Then passed are vanity and labor; 

She hears the Judge's voice alone; 



128 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

She sees the ineffable tribunal : 
Where we, too, cry with suppliant moan, 
For the sins that soul hath done, 
Grant thy pardon, Holy One ! 

Now all the organs of the body, 

So full of energy before, 
Have lost perception, know no motion, 

Can suffer and can act no more. 
The eyes are closed in death's dark shadow ; 

The ear can never hear again ; 
The feet are bound; the hands lie idle; 

The tongue is fast as with a chain. 
Great and mighty though he be, 
Every man is vanity. 

Behold and weep me, friends and brethren ! 

Voice, sense, and breath, and motion gone ; 
But yesterday I dwelt among you; 

Then death's most fearful hour came on. 
Embrace me with the last embracement; 

Kiss me with this, the latest kiss; 
Never again shall I be with you ; 

Never with you share woe or bliss. 
I go toward the dread tribunal 

Where no man's person is preferred; 
Where lord and slave, where chief and soldier, 

Where rich and poor, alike are heard : 
One is the manner of their judgment; 

Their plea and their condition one : 
And they shall reap in woe or glory 

The earthly deeds that they have done. 
I pray you, brethren, I adjure you, 

Pour forth to Christ the ceaseless prayer, 
He would not doom me to Gehenna, 

But in his glory give me share ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 129 

Uoia rov (3lov rgv^rj 

(From the Greek Burial Office of Priests, in the "Euchologion." 
Stichera idiomela of great beauty, in which some of the strophes 
are supposed to be spoken by the dead. The translation which we 
subjoin is Littledale's, and is regarded as one of that translator's best 
efforts from the Greek. He omits certain strophes of similar mean- 
ing and the theotokia — that is, addresses to the Virgin Mary. It 
is found in "The People's Hymnal.") 

With pain earth's joys are mingled, 

Earth's glories will not stay, 
And, feebler than a shadow, 

Like dreams they fade away. 
In one brief sudden moment 

Death comes to take their place, 
But thee we pray, Lord Jesu, 

With thine unclouded face, 
And with thine own sweet beauty, 

Thou who hast loved us best, 
Look on him thou hast chosen, 

And grant thy servant rest. 

Woe for the bitter struggle 

That racks the parting soul ! 
Woe for the tears she poureth 

When none can make her whole ! 
She looketh to the angels 

But supplicates in vain; 
Her hands to men she stretcheth, 

But thence no help may gain. 
Then mindful, dearest brethren, 

How soon this life must cease, 
Pray we to Christ for mercy, 

And for our brother's peace. 

Vain, vain are all possessions 
That men may gather here; 



130 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

They last for us no longer 

When death is coming near. 
Our wealth hath no abiding, 

Fame may not with us go ; 
When death is hasting onward, 

They vanish with their show. 
And so to Christ Eternal 

Cry we, of his dear grace, 
To grant our brother quiet 

In his glad dwelling-place. 

Where are the world's affections, 

Where dream of earthly gain, 
Where are the gold and silver, 

And where the serving train? 
All, all are dust and ashes, 

All are but as a shade, 
So to the King Eternal 

Be our petition made. 
Grant, Lord, thy ceaseless blessings 

To him now called away; 
And give him joys unfading, 

And rest that lasts for aye. Amen. 

'Eixppaiveo&cjoav ol ovpavoi 

(From the Greek Office of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, 
in the "Menaea." The subjoined translation is also that of Little- 
dale, published in "The People's Hymnal.") 

Let heaven rejoice, and earth be glad, 

For He who reigns above, 
With all his Father's glory clad, 

Hath shown his perfect love. 

Brought low, to save mankind from doom, 
As God the Father bade, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 131 

He came into the hallowed womb 
Of Mary, stainless Maid. 

O wonder of surpassing might ! 

With men dwells God the Son ; 
The womb contains the Infinite, 

Time holds the timeless One. 

O strange conception, pure from spot, 

O lowliness untold, 
O mystery too deep for thought, 

O bounty manifold ! 

God made himself of glory bare 

Our mortal flesh to take, 
When to the Virgin pure and fair 

The Angel greeting spake. 

Hail, Mary, thou art full of grace, 

Blest evermore art thou; 
The Lord, whose mercies all embrace, 

Himself is with thee now. 



IRomanus 

Romanus, deacon in Berytus, afterward priest 
in Constantinople, was one of the most original 
and fruitful among the older poets. There is a 
difference of opinion among scholars concerning 
the time in which he lived; the seventh century 
is probably the correct date. We subjoin the 
following "Nativity Hymn" from the "Lyra Mes- 
sianica" as translated by Dix: 



132 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Trjv 'Edifi B^eep 

Bethlehem hath opened Eden, 

Come ! let us behold : 
Sweetness we have found once hidden, 

Pearl of price untold; 
Gifts of paradise, all precious, 
Stored within the cave refresh us. 

There the un watered root appearing 

Blooms in pardon free; 
Christians enter, nothing fearing, 

And the wonder see : 
There the undug well behold 
David thirsted for of old. 

Now the Maid her Infant bearing 

Hasten we to greet; 
He ere worlds the Godhead sharing, 

Little Child so sweet, 
Born within this lowly place, 
Stays the thirst of Adam's race. 



Cosmas of Jerusalem 

(Died about A. D. 760) 

Cosmas of Jerusalem (surnamed "the Hagiop- 
olite," also "the Melodist"), who held the second 
place among Greek ecclesiastical poets, was born at 
Jerusalem. Being left an orphan at an early age, 
he was[adopted by the father of John of Damascus, 
and the two foster brothers were bound together 
by a friendship which lasted through life. They 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 133 

excited each other to hymnology, and corrected 
and polished each other's compositions. Cosmas, 
like his friend, became a monk of Saint Sabas, and 
against his will was consecrated bishop of Majuma, 
near Gaza, in A. D. 743, by John, patriarch of 
Jerusalem, the same who ordained John of Da- 
mascus priest. After administering his diocese 
with great holiness, he died of old age, about 760, 
and is commemorated by the Eastern Church on 
October 14. 

"Where perfect sweetness dwells, is Cosmas gone; 
But his sweet lays to cheer the Church live on," 

says the verse prefixed to his life. His composi- 
tions are numerous ; the best seem to be his canons 
on Gregory Nazianzen and the Purification. To 
him a considerable part of the "Octoechus" is 
owing. ''He is the most learned of the Greek 
Church poets; and his fondness for types, bold- 
ness in their application, and love of aggregating 
them, make him the Oriental Adam of Saint 
Victor. It is owing partly to a compressed full- 
ness of meaning, very uncommon in the Greek 
poets of the Church, partly to the unusual harsh- 
ness and contraction of his phrases, that he is the 
hardest of ecclesiastical bards to comprehend" 
(Neale). 

The following odes we give in Neale's trans- 
lation : 



i 3 4 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Odes on the Nativity 
I 

XpiGTog yevvdrai' doi-dcare 

Christ is born ! Tell forth his fame ! 
Christ from heaven! His love proclaim! 
Christ on earth ! Exalt his name ! 
Sing to the Lord, O world, with exultation ! 
Break forth in glad thanksgiving, every nation ! 
For he hath triumphed gloriously ! 

Man, in God's own image made, 
Man, by Satan's wiles betrayed, 
Man, on whom corruption preyed, 
Shut out from hope of life and of salvation, 
To-day Christ maketh him a new creation, 
For he hath triumphed gloriously ! 

For the Maker, when his foe 
Wrought the creature death and woe, 
Bowed the heavens, and came below, 
And, in the Virgin's womb his dwelling making, 
Became true man, man's very nature taking; 
For he hath triumphed gloriously! 

He, the Wisdom, Word, and Might, 
God, and Son, and Light of light, 
Undiscovered by the sight 
Of earthly monarch, or infernal spirit, 
Incarnate was, that we might heaven inherit; 
For he hath triumphed gloriously! 

II 

T<5 7TpO TG)V al&vcdv 

Him, of the Father's very Essence, 
Begotten, ere the world began, 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 13s 

And, in the latter time, of Mary, 

Without a human sire, made Man: 
Unto him, this glorious morn, 

Be the strain outpoured ! 
Thou that liftest up our horn, 

Holy art thou, Lord ! 



The earthly Adam, erewhile quickened 

By the blest breath of God on high, 
Now made the victim of corruption, 

By woman's guile betrayed to die, 
He, deceived by woman's part, 

Supplication poured. 
Thou, who in my nature art, 

Holy art thou, Lord ! 

Thou, Jesus Christ, wast consubstantial 

With this our perishable clay, 
And, by assuming earthly nature, 

Exaltedst it to heavenly day. 
Thou, that wast as mortal born, 

Being God adored, 
Thou that liftest up our horn, 

Holy art thou, Lord ! 

Rejoice, O Bethlehem, the city 

Whence Judah's monarchs had their birth; 
Where He that sittest on the cherubs, 

The King of Israel, came on earth: 
Manifested this blest morn, 

As of old time never, 
He hath lifted up our horn, 

He shall reign forever ! 



136 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

III 
Tdfidog etc tt\<; pifyg 

Rod of the Root of Jesse, 

Thou, Flower of Mary born, 
From that thick shady mountain 

Cam'st glorious forth this morn : 
Of her, the ever Virgin, 

Incarnate wast thou made, 
The immaterial Essence, 

The God by all obeyed ! 
Glory, Lord, thy servants pay 
To thy wondrous might to-day ! 

The Gentiles' expectation, 

Whom Jacob's words foretell, 
Who Syria's pride shalt vanquish 

Samaria's pride shalt quell: 
Thou from the Root of Judah 

Like some fair plant dost spring, 
To turn old Gentile error 

To thee, its God and King ! 
Glory, Lord, thy servants pay 
To thy wondrous might to-day ! 

In Balaam's ancient vision 

The Eastern seers were skilled; 
They marked the constellations, 

And joy their spirits filled : 
For thou, bright Star of Jacob, 

Arising in thy might, 
Didst call these Gentiles first-fruits 

To worship in thy light. 
They, in holy reverence bent, 
Gifts acceptable present. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 137 

As on a fleece descending 

The gentle dews distill, 
As drops the earth that water, 

The Virgin didst thou fill. 
For Media, leagued with Sheba, 

Falls down and worships thee : 
Tarshish and Ethiopia, 

The Isles and Araby. 
Glory, Lord, thy servants pay 
To thy wondrous might to-day ! 



IV 

Father of Peace, and God of Consolation ! 

The angel of the counsel dost thou send 
To herald peace, to manifest salvation, 

Thy light to pour, thy knowledge to extend ; 
Whence, with the morning's earliest rays, 
Lover of men! thy name we praise. 

'Midst Caesar's subjects thou, at his decreeing, 
Obey'dst and wast enrolled : our mortal race, 

To sin and Satan slave, from bondage freeing, 
Our poverty in all points didst embrace : 

And by that union didst combine 

The earthly with the All-Divine. 

Lo ! Mary, as the world's long day was waning, 
Incarnate Deity conceived and bore; 

Virgin in birth, and after birth, remaining; 
And man to God is reconciled once more : 

Wherefore in faith her name we bless, 

And Mother of our God confess. 



i 3 8 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

V 

27rAay^v6)v f l(ovdv 

As Jonah, issuing from his three days' tomb, 
At length was cast, uninjured, on the earth: 

So from the Virgin's unpolluted womb 
The Incarnate Word, that dwelt there, had his birth 

For he, who knew no taint of mortal stain, 

Willed that his Mother spotless should remain. 

Christ comes, Incarnate God, amongst us now, 

Begotten of the Father ere the day: 
And he, to whom the sinless legions bow, 

Lies cradled, 'midst unconscious beasts on hay: 
And, by his homely swaddling-bands girt in, 
Looses the many fetters of our sin. 

Now the new Child of Adam's race draws nigh, 
To us, the faithful, given: this, this is he 

That shall the Father of Eternity, 

The Angel of the Mighty Counsel, be: 

This the eternal God, by whose strong hands 

The fabric of the world supported stands. 



VI 

Ol naldeg evasPela 

The Holy Children boldly stand 
Against the tyrant's fierce command; 
The kindled furnace they defy, — 
No doom can shake their constancy: 
They in the midmost flame confessed, 
"God of our fathers, thou art blessed I" 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 139 

The shepherds keep their flocks by night ; 
The heaven glows out with wondrous light ; 
The glory of the Lord is there, 
The angel-bands their King declare : 
The watchers of the night confessed, 
"God of our fathers, thou art blessed !" 

The angel ceased ; and suddenly 

Seraphic legions filled the sky : 

"Glory to God," they cry again. 

"Peace upon earth, good will to men: 

Christ comes 1" — And they that heard confessed, 

"God of our fathers, thou art blessed!" 

What said the shepherds ? — "Let us turn 
This newborn miracle to learn." 
To Bethlehem's gate their footsteps drew: 
The Mother with the Child they view: 
They knelt, and worshiped, and confessed, 
"God of our fathers, thou art blessed !" 

VII 

Qavjiaroq VTregfivovg 

The dewy freshness that the furnace flings 
Works out a wondrous type of future things : 
Nor did the flame the Holy Three consume, 
Nor did the Godhead's fire thy frame entomb, 
Thou, on whose bosom hung the Word: 
Wherefore we cry with heart's endeavor, 
"Let all creation bless the Lord, 
And magnify his name forever !" 

Babel's proud daughter once led David's race 
From Sion, to their exile's woeful place : 



140 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Babel now bids her wise men, gifts in hand, 
Before King David's Royal Daughter stand, 
The Mother of the Incarnate Word : 
Wherefore we cry with heart's endeavor, 
"Let all creation bless the Lord, 
And magnify his name forever !" 

From music grief held back the exile's hand : 
"How sing the Lord's song in an alien land?" 
But Babel's exile here is done away, 
And Bethlehem's harmony this glorious day 
By thee, Incarnate God, restored : 
Wherefore we cry with heart's endeavor, 
"Let all creation bless the Lord, 
And magnify his name forever !" 

Of old victorious Babel bore away 
The spoils of royal Sion and her prey: 
But Babel's treasure now, and Babel's kings, 
Christ, by the guiding star, to Sion brings. 
There have they knelt, and there adored: 
Wherefore we cry with heart's endeavor, 
"Let all creation bless the Lord, 
And magnify his name forever V 



VIII 

Mvarrjptov gevov 

O wondrous mystery, full of passing grace! 

The grot becometh heaven : the Virgin's breast 
The bright cherubic throne: the stall that place, 
Where He, who fills all space, vouchsafes to rest : 
Christ our God, to whom we raise 
Hymns of thankfulness and praise ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 141 

The course propitious of the unknown Star 

The Wise-men followed on its heavenly way, — 
Until it led them, beckoning from afar, 

To where the Christ, the King of all kings, lay : 
Him in Bethlehem they find, 
Born the Saviour of mankind. 

"Where is the Child," they ask, "the newborn King, 

Whose herald-light is glittering in the sky, — 
To whom our offerings and our praise we bring?" 
And Herod's heart is troubled utterly. 
Armed for war with God, in vain 
Would he see that Infant slain. 



Pentecostal Ode 

Hovtg) eicdXvipe 
(Translated by Dix in "Lyra Mystica," p. 203.) 

He who with His mighty hand 
Breaks the battle and the brand, 
Now hath buried in the tide 
Egypt's chariots and her pride. 
Songs of victory we sing, 
Perished are her host and king. 
Tell the triumph far and wide, 
God the Lord is glorified. 

Thou a Light on earth hath shined, 
Christ, the Lover of mankind; 
Thou the Comforter hast sent, 
All hath found accomplishment, 
Which the Law and Prophets old 
In the ages past foretold; 
Every promise, every word 
Which thy dear disciples heard. 



143 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

For the Holy Spirit's grace 
On the true and faithful race 
Freely hath to-day been poured, 
From the world's foundation stored: 
Gladly then these hymns we lift, 
Thankful for the wondrous Gift, 
Praising as is right and meet, 
God the blessed Paraclete, 



Stepben tbe Sabatte 

(A. D. 725-794) 

Stephen the Sabaite was a nephew of John of 
Damascus, and spent fifty-nine years in the con- 
vent of Mar Saba. He is commemorated on the 
thirteenth of July. "He struck the keynote/ ' 
says Schaff, "of Neale's exquisite hymn of com- 
fort, 'Art thou weary,' which is found in some 
editions of the 'Octoechus.' He is the inspirer 
rather than the author of that hymn, which is 
worthy of a place in every book of devotional 
poetry." 

Konov re nai 

Art thou weary, art thou languid, 

Art thou sore distressed? 
"Come to me," saith One, "and, coming, 
Be at rest !" 

Hath he marks to lead me to him, 

If he be my guide? 
"In his feet and hands are wound-prints, 
And his side." 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 143 

Is there diadem, as monarch, 

That his brow adorns? 
"Yea, a crown, in very surety, 
But of thorns !" 

If I find him, if I follow, 

What his guerdon here? 
"Many a sorrow, many a labor, 
Many a tear." 

If I still hold closely to him, 

What hath he at last? 
"Sorrow vanquished, labor ended, 
Jordan passed!" 

If I ask him to receive me, 

Will he say me nay ? 
"Not till earth and not till heaven 
Pass away !" 

Finding, following, keeping, struggling, 

Is he sure to bless ? 
"Angels, martyrs, prophets, virgins, 
Answer, Yes !" 



Ubeopbanes 

(A. D. 759-820) 

Theophanes, surnamed "the Branded,' ' holds 
the third place among Greek Church poets, and is 
one of the most prolific of Eastern hymnogra- 
phers. He attended the second Council of Nicasa 
(787). During the reign of Leo the Arminian 



i 4 4 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

(813) he suffered imprisonment, banishment, and 
mutilation for his devotion to the icons, and died 
about 820. Neale remarks that in Theophanes's 
writings "we first see that which has been the 
bane and ruin of later Greek poetry, the compo- 
sition of hymns, not from the spontaneous effu- 
sion of the heart, but because they were wanted 
to fill up a gap in the Office-book." 

Adam's Complaint 

"The reader,' ' says Neale, "can hardly fail to be 
struck with the beautiful idea in the third stanza, 
where the foliage of Paradise is asked to make 
intercession for Adam's recall. The last stanza 
Milton, as a universal scholar, doubtless had in 
his eye in Eve's lamentation." Schaff thinks that 
this is very doubtful. 

'O TrXd(JT7}S [10V KVQLOg 

"The Lord my Maker, forming me of clay, 

By his own breath, the breath of life conveyed : 
O'er all the bright new world he gave me sway, — 

A little lower than the angels made. 
But Satan, using for his guile 
The crafty serpent's cruel wile, 

Deceived me by the tree ; 
And severed me from God and grace, 
And wrought me death, and all my race 

As long as time shall be. 
O Lover of the sons of men! 
Forgive, and call me back again! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 145 

"In that same hour I lost the glorious stole 

Of innocence, that God's own hands had made ; 
And now, the tempter poisoning all my soul, 

I sit, in fig leaves and in skins arrayed: 
I sit condemned, distressed, forsaken; 
Must till the ground, whence I was taken, 

By labor's daily sweat. 
But Thou, that shalt hereafter come, 
The offspring of a virgin womb, 

Have pity on me yet ! 
O, turn on me those gracious eyes, 
And call me back to Paradise ! 

"O glorious Paradise ! O lovely clime ! 

O God-built mansion ! Joy of every saint ! 
Happy remembrance to all coming time ! 

Whisper, with all thy leaves, in cadence faint, 
One prayer to Him who made them all, 
One prayer for Adam in his fall ! — 
That He, who formed thy gates of yore, 
Would bid those gates unfold once more 

That I had closed by sin : 
And let me taste that holy tree 
That giveth immortality 

To them that dwell therein ! 
Or have I fallen so far from grace 
That mercy hath for me no place ?" 

Adam sat right against the eastern gate, 

By many a storm of sad remembrance tossed: 

"O me ! so ruined by the serpent's hate ! 
O me ! so glorious once, and now so lost ! 

So mad that bitter lot to choose ! 

Beguiled of all I had to lose ! 

Must I then, gladness of my eyes, — 
10 



146 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Must I then leave thee, Paradise, 

And as an exile go? 
And must I never cease to grieve 
How once my God, at cool of eve, 

Came down to walk below? 
O Merciful ! on thee I call : 
O Pitiful ! forgive my fall !" 



'Cbeofcore of tbe StuMum 

(Died A. D. 826) 

Theodore of the Studium (a celebrated convent 
near Constantinople) is distinguished for his suf- 
ferings in the iconoclastic controversy, and died in 
exile, November 11, 826. 

Odes on the Advent 
I 

Trjv rjfiepav rrjv (ppiKTrjv 

That fearful day, that day of speechless dread, 
When Thou shalt come to judge the quick and dead — 

I shudder to foresee, 

O God, what then shall be ! 

When thou shalt come, angelic legions round, 
With thousand thousands, and with trumpet sound, 

Christ, grant me in the air 

With saints to meet thee there ! 

Weep, O my soul, ere that great hour and day, 
When God shall shine in manifest array, 

Thy sin, that thou mayst be 

In that strict judgment free ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 147 

The terror ! — hell-fire fierce and unsufficed : 

The bitter worm : the gnashing teeth : — O Christ, 

Forgive, remit, protect; 

And set me with the elect ! 

That I may hear the blessed voice that calls 
The righteous to the joy of heavenly halls: 

And, King of heaven, may reach 

The realm that passeth speech ! 

Enter thou not in judgment with each deed, 
Nor each intent and thought in strictness read : 

Forgive, and save me then, 

O thou that lovest men ! 

Thee, One in Three blest Persons ! Lord o'er all ! 
Essence of essence, Power of power, we call : 

Save us, O Father, Son, 

And Spirit, ever One ! 

II 
'O Kvpiog ep^erat 

God comes; — and who shall stand before his fear? 
Who bide his presence, when he draweth near? 

My soul, my soul, prepare 

To kneel before him there ! 

Haste, weep, be reconciled to him before 
The fearful judgment knocketh at the door: 

Where, in the Judge's eyes, 

All bare and naked lies. 

Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, I cry, 
When with thine angels thou appear'st on high : 



i 4 8 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

And each shall doom inherit, 
According to his merit. 

How can I bear thy fearful anger, Lord? 
I, that so often have transgressed thy word? 

But put my sins away, 

And spare me in that day ! 

O miserable soul, return, lament, 
Ere earthly converse end, and life be spent: 
Ere, time for sorrow o'er, 
The Bridegroom close the door ! 

Yea, I have sinned, as no man sinned beside : 
With more than human guilt my soul is dyed : 

But spare, and save me here, 

Before that day appear ! 

Three Persons in One Essence uncreate, 
On whom, both Three and One, our praises wait, 
Give everlasting light 
To them that sing thy might ! 



Ill 

The day is near, the judgment is at hand, 
Awake, my soul, awake, and ready stand ! 
Where chiefs shall go with them that filled the throne, 
Where rich and poor the same tribunal own; 

And every thought and deed 

Shall find its righteous meed. 

There with the sheep the shepherd of the fold 
Shall stand together ; there the young and old ; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH *49 

Master and slave one doom shall undergo ; 
Widow and maiden one tribunal know. 

Oh, woe, oh, woe, to them 

Whom lawless lives condemn ! 

That judgment-seat, impartial in decree, 

Accepts no bribe, admits no subtlety: 

No orator persuasion may exert, 

No perjured witness wrong to right convert: 

But all things, hid in night, 

Shall then be dragged to light. 

Let me not enter in the land of woe ; 
Let me not realms of outer darkness know ! 
Nor from the wedding feast reject Thou me, 
For my soiled vest of immortality; 

Bound hand and foot, and cast 

In anguish that shall last! 

When Thou, the nations ranged on either side, 
The righteous from the sinners shall divide, 
Then give me to be found amongst thy sheep, 
Then from the goats thy trembling servant keep : 

That I may hear the voice 

That bids thy saints rejoice ! 

When righteous inquisition shall be made, 
And the books opened, and the thrones arrayed, 
My soul, what plea to shield thee canst thou know, 
Who hast no fruit of righteousness to show, 

No holy deeds to bring 

To Christ the Lord and King? 

I hear the rich man's wail and bitter cry, 
Out of the torments of eternity; 



i 5 o HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

I know, beholding that devouring flame, 
My guilt and condemnation are the same; 

And spare me, Lord, I say, 

In the great judgment day ! 

The Word and Spirit, with the Father One, 
One light and emanation of one Sun, 
The Word by generation, we adore, 
The Spirit by procession, evermore; 

And with creation raise 

The thankful hymn of praise. 

IV 

'O Kvptoc %QX ETal 

The Lord draws nigh, the righteous throne's Assessor, 
The just to save, to punish the transgressor: 

Weep we, and mourn, and pray, 

Regardful of that day; 
When all the secrets of all hearts shall be 
Lit with the blaze of full eternity. 

Clouds and thick darkness o'er the Mount assembling, 
Moses beheld the Eternal's glory, trembling: 

And yet he might but see 

God's feebler majesty. 
And I — I needs must view his fullest face: — 
O, spare me, Lord ! O, take me to thy grace ! 

David of old beheld, in speechless terror, 
The session of the Judge — the doom of error: 

And what have I to plead 

For mercy in my need? 
Nothing save this: O, grant me yet to be, 
Ere that day come, renewed and true to thee ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 151 

Here, fires of deep damnation roar and glitter: 
The worm is deathless, and the cup is bitter : 

There, day that hath no morrow, 

And joy that hath no sorrow: 
And who so blest that he shall fly the abyss, 
Raised up to God's right hand, and speechless bliss ! 

My soul with many an act of sin is wounded : 
With mortal weakness is my frame surrounded: 

My life is well-nigh o'er: 

The Judge is at the door: 
How wilt thou, miserable spirit, fare, 
What time he sends his summons through the air ? 

XagiOTrjgtov Gydrjv 

This canon for "Orthodoxy Sunday," or "The 
First Sunday in Lent," is kept in memory, prima- 
rily, of the first triumph of the Church over the 
iconoclasts in 842, and incidentally of her victory 
over all other heresies. Neale in his prefatory 
note to the canon says: "The following canon is 
ascribed to Theodore of the Studium, although 
Baronius has thought that it cannot be his, be- 
cause it implies that peace was restored to the 
Church, whereas that hymnographer died while 
the persecution still continued. Very possibly, 
however, it was written on the temporary victory 
of the Church, which did occur in the time of 
Saint Theodore; and then, in 842, may have been 
lengthened and adapted to the then state of 
things, perhaps by Naucratius, the favorite dis- 
ciple of Saint Theodore" ("Hymns of the Eastern 



152 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Church," 2nd ed., 1863, p. 113). The translation 
which we subjoin is by Neale: 

The Lord, the Lord hath triumphed, 

Let all the world rejoice ! 
Hushed is the turmoil, silent 

His servants' tearful voice : 
And the one faith, the true faith, 

Goes forth from east to west, 
Enfolding in its beauty, 

The earth as with a vest. 

They rise, the sleepless watchmen 

Upon the Church's wall, 
With yearning supplication 

On God, the Lord, they call: 
And he, though long time silent, 

Bows down a gracious ear 
His people's earnest crying 

And long complaint to hear. 

Sing, sing of joy, each desert! 

Exult, each realm of earth ! 
Ye mountains, drop down sweetness, 

Ye hillocks, leap for mirth ! 
For Christ the Lord, bestowing 

His blessed peace on men, 
In faith's most holy union 

Shall knit his Church again. 

O Lord of loving-kindness, 
How wondrous are thy ways ! 

What tongue of man suffices 
Thy gentleness to praise ; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 153 

Because of thy dear Person 

Men dared thy saints to kill, 
Yet didst thou not consume them, 

Bearing their insults still. 

Thou who hast fixed unshaken 

Thy Church's mighty frame, 
That gates of hell shall never 

Prevail against the same, 
Bestow upon thy people 

Thy peace, that we may bring 
One voice, one hymn, one spirit, 

To glorify our King. Amen. 



/!DetboMu8 fl 

(Died A. D. 846) 

Methodius I was a native of Syracuse, and em- 
braced the monastic life at Constantinople. Sent 
as legate from Pope Paschal to Michael the Stam- 
merer, he was imprisoned by that prince in a 
close cell, and there passed nine years, on account 
of his resolute defense of icons. Having been 
scourged for the same cause by the Emperor 
Theophilus, he made his escape from prison ; and 
when peace was restored to the Church was 
raised to the throne of Constantinople. He died 
November 4, 846. Neale gives one of his compo- 
sitions as follows: 



154 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Et Kal ra napovra 

Are thy toils and woes increasing? 
Are the foe's attacks unceasing? 

Look with faith unclouded, 

Gaze with eyes unshrouded, 
On the Cross ! 

Dost thou fear that strictest trial ? 

Tremblest thou at Christ's denial? 
Never rest without it, 
Clasp thine hands about it, — 
That dear Cross ! 

Diabolic legions press thee ? 

Thoughts and works of sin distress thee ? 

It shall chase all terror, 

It shall right all error, — 
That sweet Cross ! 

Draw'st thou nigh to Jordan's river ? 
Should' st thou tremble ? Need'st thou quiver ? 

No ! if by it lying, — 

No ! if on it dying, — 
On the Cross ! 

Say then, — "Master, while I cherish 
That sweet hope, I cannot perish ! 

After this life's story, 

Give thou me the glory 
For the Cross!" 



Josepfo of tbe StuMum 

(Died A. D. &S 3 ) 
Joseph, called ' 'Hymnographus," is the most pro- 
lific, most bombastic, and most tedious of Greek 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 155 

hymn writers. He was a Sicilian by birth, at 
last keeper of the sacred vessels (sceuophylax) in 
the Great Church at Constantinople. 

Twv legcjv a-dXotpogoiV 

The original from which this cento is taken is 
the canon for the deacon Saint Timothy and his 
wife, Saint Maura, whose martyrdom is commem- 
orated by the Church of Constantinople on May 
3. Kingsley's "Santa Maura" describes in popu- 
lar form this martyrdom of Timothy and Maura. 
The translation which we subjoin is by Neale: 

Let our choir new anthems raise, 

Wake the morn with gladness ; 
God himself to joy and praise 

Turns the martyr's sadness: 
This the day that won their crown, 

Opened heaven's bright portal, 
As they laid the mortal down 

And put on the immortal. 

Never flinched they from the flame, 

From the torture, never; 
Vain the foeman's sharpest aim, 

Satan's best endeavor : 
For by faith they saw the land 

Decked in all its glory, 
Where triumphant now they stand 

With the victor's story. 

Faith they had that knew not shame, 

Love that could not languish ; 
And eternal hope o'ercame 

Momentary anguish: 



156 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

He who trod the selfsame road, 
Death and hell defeated; 

Wherefore these their passions showed 
Calvary repeated. 

Up and follow, Christian men ! 

Press through toil and sorrow ! 
Spurn the night of fear, and then, — 

O the glorious morrow! 
Who will venture on the strife ? 

Blest who first begin it! 
Who will grasp the Land of Life ? 

Warriors ! up and win it ! 

For Ascension Day 



Jesus, Lord of Life eternal, 

Taking those he loved the best, 

Stood upon the Mount of Olives, 
And his own the last time blest. 

Then though he had never left it, 
Sought again his Father's breast. 

Knit is now our flesh to Godhead, 
Knit in everlasting bands : 

Call the world to highest festal : 
Floods and oceans, clap your hands 

Angels, raise the song of triumph: 
Make response, ye distant lands. 

Loosing death with all its terrors, 
Thou ascendest up on high; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 157 

And to mortals, now immortal, 

Gavest immortality, 
As thine own disciples saw thee 

Mounting Victor to the sky. 



II 

Wafting Him up on high, 
The glorious cloud receives 

The Lord of Immortality, 
And earth the Victor leaves : 

The heavenly people raise the strain, 

The apostles pour the hymn again — 
God of our fathers, thou art blest ! 

Ye faithful, tell your joys ! 

All hearts with gladness bound, 
God is gone up with a merry noise, 

The Lord with the trumpet's sound ! 
To him we cry, by woes once tried, 
Now glorious at the Father's side — 

God of our fathers, thou art blest ! 

Zealous for God of yore, 

With zeal still Moses burns: 

Come, heavenly spirits, and adore 
The Victor who returns : 

Rise, angel legions, rise and sing 

The ancient hymn to greet the King — 
God of our fathers, thou art blest ! 



i 5 8 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

III 

Exalt, exalt, the heavenly gates, 

Ye chiefs of mighty name, 
The Lord and King of all things waits, 

Enrobed in earthly frame. 
So to the higher seats they cry, 
The humbler legions of the sky. 

For Adam's sake, by serpent guile 
Distressed, deceived, o'erthrown, 

Thou leftist thy native home awhile, 
Thou left'st the Father's throne : 

Now he is decked afresh with grace, 

Thou seek'st once more the heavenly place. 

Glad festal keeps the earth to-day, 
Glad festal heaven is keeping: 

The ascension-pomp in bright array r 
Goes proudly skyward sweeping: 

The Lord the mighty deed hath done, 

And joined the severed into one. 

IV 

Tdv kv dvol ratg 

Of twofold natures, Christ, the Giver 

Of immortality and love, 
Ascendeth to the Father's glory, 

Ascendeth to the throne above: 
Wherefore he, this glorious morn, 

Be by all adored: 
Thou that liftest up our horn, 

Holy art thou, Lord ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 159 

Slaves are set free, and captives ransomed : 

The nature that he made at first 
He now presenteth to the Father, 

The chains of her damnation burst: 
This the cause that he was born, 

Adam's race restored: 
Thou that liftest up our horn, 

Holy art thou, Lord ! 

Emptied awhile of all his brightness, 

He entered thus the glorious fight; 
O'erthrew the foe, mankind exalted 

Far above every power and might : 
Therefore bare he pains and scorn, 

Calvary's heart-blood poured: 
Thou that liftest up our horn, 

Holy art thou, Lord ! 



V 

* Aviary rpirjfiegog 

After three days Thou didst rise 
Visible to mortal eyes : 
First the Eleven worshiped thee, — 
Then the rest in Galilee: 
Then a cloud in glory bore 
Thee to thine own native shore. 

Boldly David poured the strain — 
God ascends to heaven again : 
With the trumpet's pealing note 
Alleluias round him float, 
As he now, by hard-won right, 
Seeks the fount of purest light. 



160 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Crime on crime, and grief on grief, 
Left the world without relief : 
Now that aged, languid race 
God hath quickened by his grace: 
As thy going up we see, 
Glory to thy glory be. 



TTbeocttetus of tbe StuMum 

(Died about A. D. 890) 

Theoctistus is the author of a " Suppliant Canon 
to Jesus," the only thing known of him, but, as 
Schaff remarks, "the sweetest Jesus-hymn of the 
Greek Church." 

'iTjOOV ykVKVTCLTS 

Jesu, name all names above, 

Jesu, best and dearest, 
Jesu, fount of perfect love, 

Holiest, tenderest, nearest; 
Jesu, source of grace completest, 
Jesu, purest, Jesu, sweetest; 
Jesu, well of power divine, 
Make me, keep me, seal me thine ! 

Jesu, open me the gate 

That of old he entered, 
Who, in that most lost estate, 

Wholly on thee ventured; 
Thou, whose wounds are ever pleading, 
And thy Passion interceding, 
From, my misery let me rise 
To a home in paradise ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 161 

Thou didst call the prodigal ; 
Thou didst pardon Mary: 
Thou whose words can never fall, 

Love can never vary : 
Lord, to heal my lost condition, 
Give — for thou canst give — contrition ; 
Thou canst pardon all my ill 
If thou wilt: O say, "I will I" 

Woe, that I have turned aside 

After fleshly pleasure ! 
Woe, that I have never tried 

For the heavenly treasure ! 
Treasure, safe in home supernal; 
Incorruptible, eternal ! 
Treasure no less price hath won 
Than the Passion of the Son ! 

Jesu, crowned with thorns for me, 

Scourged for my transgression, 
Witnessing, through agony, 

That thy good confession ! 
Jesu, clad in purple raiment, 
For my evils making payment; 
Let not all thy woe and pain, 
Let not Calvary, be in vain ! 

When I reach death's bitter sea 

And its waves roll higher, 
Help the more forsaking me 

As the storm draws nigher: 
Jesu, leave me not to languish, 
Helpless, hopeless, full of anguish! 
Tell me, "Verily I say, 
Thou shalt be with me to-day!" 
11 



162 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

/IDetropbanes of Smyrna 

(Died about A. D. 910) 

Metrophanes of Smyrna was bishop of that see, 
says Neale, toward the close of the ninth century, 
and is principally famous for his canons in honor 
of the Blessed Trinity, sung at matins on Sun- 
days, of which Neale gives the following specimen : 
TpMpeyyfjg Movdc 

O Unity of Threefold Light, 

Send out thy loveliest ray, 
And scatter our transgressions' night, 

And turn it into day; 
Make us those temples pure and fair, 

Thy glory loveth well, 
The spotless tabernacle, where 

Thou may'st vouchsafe to dwell ! 

The glorious hosts of peerless might 

That ever see thy face, 
Thou mak'st the mirrors of thy Light, 

The vessels of thy grace: 
Thou when their wondrous strain they weave 

Hast pleasure in the lay : 
Deign thus our praises to receive, 

Albeit from lips of clay ! 

And yet thyself they cannot know, 

Nor pierce the veil of light 
That hides thee from the thrones below, 

As in profoundest night: 
How then can mortal accents frame 

Due tribute to the King? 
Thou, only, while we praise thy name, 

Forgive us as we sing ! 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 163 

Simeon jflDetapbrastes 

(A. D. 886-959?) 

This writer, who is especially known for his 
"Lives of the Saints," was secretary and chancel- 
lor of the imperial court at Constantinople, and 
lived at the end of the tenth century. He wrote 
a "lament" of Mary on embracing the Lord's body, 
which we subjoin in the translation of Dix in 
"Lyra Mystica," p. 36; another is made by Mrs. 
Browning. 

O thou uncovered Corse, Word of the Living One, 
Self-doomed to be uplifted on the bitter tree, 

Thereon to die, thy patient will, Eternal Son, 
And thence in love draw all men unto thee. 

Which of thy holy members is without a wound ? 

The thorny wreath thy blessed brow embraces last ; 
No place whereon to lay thee, weary head, was found — 

But thou shalt rest within a tomb at last. 

O lips, which once with sweetest words did overflow, 
Fresh from sharp vinegar and bitterness of gall ; 

O cheeks, how often turned to many a smiter's blow, 
And spat upon in Pilate's judgment hall. 

By hands of men made helpless on the dreadful beam, 
O hands of man creative, how were ye pierced through ; 

Yet all outstretched, ye reach e'en Hades to redeem, 
And give the first transgressor help anew. 

O mouth all sweet, no guile was ever found in thee, 
And yet, alas ! by traitorous kiss wast thou betrayed ; 

O blessed feet, that walking on the stormy sea 
All water hallowed as the waves obeyed. 



164 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Where is the chorus of thy sick ones, O my Son, 

All those infirm whom thou didst heal, the upraised dead? 

To draw the nails from hands and feet, there came not one 
Of all the crowds whom thou hast comforted. 

Only came Nicodemus, he who sought by night, 

And Joseph kind, whose rocky tomb thy bed shall be, 

Whither to sleep a lion's sleep in awful night, 
My Son, how soon will they be bearing thee. 

Now thou art borne to me from yon sharp cross of pain, 
And heavily upon these Mother-arms art laid ; 

These arms which bare thee long ago, and once again 
A lowly resting place for thee are made. 

I, who first swathed thee, thy graveclothes now will bind, 
Giver of Life, thou liest dead before me now : 

Tears laved thee at thy birth ; far hotter tears I find 
To wash the death-drops from thy pallid brow. 

High in these arms maternal thou didst leap, 

Thou who wast born of me, this weary world to save ; 

O bitter funerals ! that I, who hushed thy sleep, 
Must wail this doleful passion o'er thy grave. 



Bnonsmous IRsmns of tbe SLater IPertofc 

'J3oi> b vv(j,(f)Log epxercu 

(Midnight hymn, translated by G. Moultrie, "Lyra Messianica," 
p. 50; "People's Hymnal," No. 10.) 

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night, 
And blest is he whose loins are girt, whose lamp is burn- 
ing bright ; 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 165 

But woe to that dull servant, whom his Master shall sur- 
prise 

With lamp untrimmed, unburning, and with slumber in his 
eyes. 

Do thou, my soul, beware, beware lest thou in sleep sink 

down, 
Lest thou be given o'er to death, and lose the golden 

crown ; 
But see that thou be sober, with watchful eyes, and thus 
Cry : "Holy, holy, holy God, have mercy upon us !" 

That day, the day of fear, shall come : my soul, slack not 

thy toil, 
But light thy lamp, and feed it well, and make it bright 

with oil; 
Who knowest not how soon may sound the cry at eventide, 
Behold, the Bridegroom comes ! Arise ! Go forth to meet 

the Bride. 

Beware, my soul ; take thou good heed, lest thou in slum- 
ber lie, 

And like the five, remain without, and knock, and vainly 
cry; 

But watch, and bear thy lamp undimmed, and Christ shall 
gird thee on 

His own bright wedding-robe of light, — the glory of the 
Son. 

'Yfivovfiev aov Xpiore 

(For the "Sunday of Easter," translated by W. C. Dix, "Lyra 
Messianica," p. 277.) 

Christ, we sing thy saving Passion, 

Thine arising glorify: 
Death forever to abolish, 

Thou upon the cross didst die. 



i66 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Then from Hades thou didst hasten, 

As alone Omnipotent: 
Grant us peace in life, Redeemer, 

Joy when earthly life is spent. 

Sing we now thy condescension, 

Christ, with God the Father One; 
We in lofty hymns will praise thee, 

Mary-Mother's blessed Son. 
Thou for us as Man didst suffer, 

Willingly the cross didst bear, 
That thy resurrection glory 

We, the sons of men, may share. 

Coming, as from bridal chamber, 

Robed with orient morning light, 
Bringing to the world salvation, 

Spoiling hell of all her might ; 
Raising, by thy resurrection, 

Man to dignity most high: 
Christ, may we, with pure thanksgiving, 

Thee forever glorify. Amen. 

2rj[j,EQ0V avv&%zi rdcpog 

(From the Office for Easter Eve, translated by Littledale, "Peo- 
ple's Hymnal," No. in.) 

The sepulcher is holding 

To-day within its band 
The Lord, who holds creation 

Within his strong right hand. 

To-day a stone is hiding 

From gaze of mortal eye 
The Lord, whose glory hideth 

The brightness of the sky. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 167 

The Life of all is sleeping, 

But hell is quaking sore, 
And Adam bursts the fetters 

Which prisoned him before. 

All praise to thee, Lord Jesu, 

Whose providence of love 
Hath won for us, thy people, 

The Sabbath rest above. 

To Christ, the King of Glory, 

Who in the tomb was laid, 
To Father and to Spirit, 

Eternal laud be paid. Amen. 



(For the Holy Communion. This is the "Prayer of the Cherubic 
Hymn" found in the Liturgy of Saint James. The translation is by 
Moultrie, and is found in the "Lyra Eucharistica" and "The Peo- 
ple's Hymnal.") 

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trem- 
bling stand; 

Ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in his 
Hand 

Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to 
demand. 

King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth he 

stood, 
Lord of lords, in human vesture — in the body and the 

blood — 
He will give to all the faithful his own self for heavenly 

food. 



168 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on 
the way, 

As the Light of Light descendeth from the realms of end- 
less day, 

That the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears 
away. 

At his feet the six-winged seraph-cherubim, with sleepless 

eye, 
Veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice 

they cry, 
"Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord Most High." 

'Qg tielog norafiog 

(In the Greek Office of Prayer Oil. In "The People's Hymnal" 
it is appointed for a "Time of Pestilence," for which it is most suit 
able.) 

Christ, Mercy's holy River, 

Christ, Love's unfathomed Sea, 
In pity, Lord, deliver 

The faint who turn to thee. 

Thy wonders on us pouring, 

Our souls from evil lave, 
Who come with prayer imploring, 

And cry to thee to save. 

O Helper and Physician 

Of them whom sickness pains, 

O Giver of remission 
From all disease's chains. 

Grant thy weak servants healing, 

Thou King and Lord of all, 
Bend down to our appealing, 

And hear us when we call. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 169 

Christ, ransom from transgression 

This erring flock of thine, 
That we, with glad confession, 

May praise thy might divine. 



'O veog ovpavog 

(Three cathismata — that is, hymns sung seated — from the Day- 
dawn or Lauds for the Conception of Anna, December 9, in the 
"Menaea." The translation of Littledale, found in "The People's 
Hymnal," is an expansion of the original, the second stanza being 
introduced for the sake of clearness. The doxology is also by 
Littledale.) 

Within the womb of Anna, 

By God's creating will, 
To-day another heaven 

Is framed for God to fill. 
From which that Sun unsetting 

On all the world hath shined, 
Supreme in loving Godhead, 

The Saviour of mankind. 

The choir of ancient prophets 

Foretold that Virgin fair, 
The spotless one and holy, 

Whom barren Anna bare. 
To-day with hearts rejoicing 

We bless her honored name, 
We who receive the Saviour 

From Mary, pure from blame. 

Be thou renewed, O Adam, 

O Eve, in gladness bound, 
The fairest bud hath blossomed 

From dry and sterile ground: 



170 HYMNS AND POETRY OF 

It blooms with life immortal, 

Takes barrenness away, 
So we, in jubilation, 

Rejoice with them to-day. 

Declare aloud, O David, 

What sware the Lord to thee ? 
What God the Lord hath promised 

Ye now fulfilled may see: 
He giveth us the Virgin 

Who from my loins doth spring, 
Who bore the world's Creator, 

The Adam new, the King : 

The Christ, who sits in glory 

Upon my throne to-day, 
Who governeth the kingdom 

Which knoweth no decay. 
The barren bears the Virgin, 

God's Mother ever blest, 
Who gave to Life's own Giver 

Sweet nurture from her breast. 

From angel ranks in heaven, 

From choirs of men below, 
Let strains of hymns exulting 

In perfect concord flow; 
In praise of God the Father, 

In praise of God the Son, 
In praise of God the Spirit, 

The Three who are but One. Amen. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH 171 

'O deaTrjg tgjv dgpijrcjv 

(Three prosomia — that is, hymns of a similar structure — from the 
Vespers of Saint John the Divine, May 8, in the "Menaea." The 
translation in "The People's Hymnal" is that of Littledale. The 
fourth stanza is not in the original.) 

O Saint, permitted here to see 

Unutterable visions bright, 
O mighty son of Zebedee, 

Who didst that holy Gospel write, 
Which telleth us of Christ the Son, 
With Father and with Spirit One. 

O harp, aroused by God's own hand, 
Whose tones on earth for us prolong 

The music of the far-off land, 
The echoes of celestial song; 

How sweet to us the notes that rung 

From thy pure lips and tuneful tongue ! 

Beloved disciple of the Lord, 

Thou hast proclaimed, with thunder-sound, 
The hidden Wisdom, God the Word, 

Unto the world's remotest bound, 
And with thy gleaming torch art guide 
Of all to the Redeemer's side. 

For thou hast lain on Jesu's breast, 
By thine own fervent love made bold, 

And now hast found thy perfect rest 
Within thy Saviour's inner fold; 

There may thy Master, by his grace, 

Admit us too to see his face. 



172 HYMNS OF THE EASTERN CHURCH 

AlyVTTTOV <f)(*)OT7}p 

(Three hotnoia — hymns of the same structure — from the Office for 
Saint Mark, April 25, in the "Menasa." The translation in "The 
People's Hymnal" is by Littledale. The doxology is not in the 
original.) 

Mark, shining light of Egypt, 

True servant of the Lord, 

Thou penman of good tidings, 

Thou herald of the Word. 

With melody and gladness 

To-day thy praise we sing, 
Who askest peace and mercy 

For us from Christ the King. 

Thou wrotest in thy record 

The oracles divine, 
And madest Jesu's glory 

Upon the world to shine. 

And telling how the Man-God 

His glorious Passion bore, 
And how he rose in power, 

And took his crown once more. 

Thou drawest on the nations 
For that same truth to yearn, 

Which thou from Peter's teaching 
Thyself didst gladly learn. 

So lightening the people, 

With God the Spirit's grace, 
Thou sentest rays of brightness 

O'er Egypt's darkened race. 

Then unto Christ the Saviour, 
Whom thou hast preached, be laud 

To Father and to Spirit, 
The One Eternal God. Amen. 



1In&ey of 3First Xines 

PAGE 

A great and mighty wonder! 103 

A Star shines forth in heaven suddenly 87 

After three days Thou didst rise 159 

Again we hail the opening morn 67 

Are thy toils and woes increasing? 154 

Art thou weary, art thou languid 142 

As Jonah, issuing from his three days' tomb 138 

As my provision for my journey, I have taken thee 92 

Awake, our lute, the Child to sing 71 

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the 

night 164 

Bethlehem hath opened Eden 132 

Bridle of untamed colts 21 

Child, by God's sweet mercy given 91 

Christ is born! Tell forth his fame! , , 134 

Christ, Mercy's holy River 168 

Christ, my Lord, I come to bless thee 47 

Christ the Son 80 

Christ, we sing thy saving Passion 165 

Christian! dost thou see them 109 

Come, let us drink of that new river 116 

Exalt, exalt, the heavenly gates 158 

Father of Peace, and God of Consolation 137 

Fierce was the wild billow 105 

Glory in the highest of God 15 

Glory to the glorious One 94 

God comes; — and who shall stand before his fear? 147 

Habakkuk in ancient song , 114 

Hail! cheerful Light, of his pure glory poured 18 

He calls us to a day of gladness 90 

He who with His mighty hand 141 

Hear us now, Eternal Monarch 34 

173 



174 INDEX OF FIRST LINES 

PAGE 

Him, of the Father's very Essence 134 

How bitter is the grief 98 

If the dark and awful tomb 121 

In Bethlehem is He born! 104 

Into his arms with tender love 86 

Into the dim earth's lowest parts descending 118 

Into the fiery furnace flung 123 

Jehovah, judge my cause 96 

Jesu, give thy servants 124 

Jesu, name all names above 160 

Jesus, hastening for the world to suffer 108 

Jesus, Lord of Life eternal 156 

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and 

trembling stand 167 

Let heaven rejoice, and earth be glad 130 

Let our choir new anthems raise 155 

Let us rise in early morning 117 

Lift up thyself, my soul 70 

Mark, shining light of Egypt 1 72 

O Bride of Christ on high 48 

O Christ the King! since breath pent up so long 38 

O my deathless, O my blessed 75 

O Saint, permitted here to see 171 

O the mystery, passing wonder 107 

O thou, the One supreme o'er all! 36 

O Thou the Word of truth divine! 46 

O thou uncovered Corse, Word of the Living One 163 

O! 'tis no theme of common things 76 

O Unity of Threefold Light 162 

O wondrous mystery, full of passing grace! , 140 

Of twofold natures, Christ, the Giver 158 

Our hymns receive, Redeemer 113 

Praise the Lord, O ye his servants 17 

Rod of the Root of Jesse 136 

Salem is shouting with her children 88 

Shepherd of tender youth 24 

Shine! shine! O new Jerusalem 120 

Stand on thy watchtower, Habakkuk the Seer 116 



INDEX OF FIRST LINES 175 

PAGE 

Take the last kiss, — the last forever! 125 

That fearful day, that day of speechless dread 146 

The Bridegroom cometh ! overhead 27 

The day is near, the judgment is at hand 148 

The day is past and over 102 

The dewy freshness that the furnace flings 139 

The first of all apostles no 

The Holy Children boldly stand 138 

The Lord and King of all things 105 

The Lord draws nigh, the righteous throne's Assessor. . 150 

The Lord my Maker, forming me of clay 144 

The Lord, the Lord hath triumphed 152 

The sepulcher is holding 166 

The tuneful sound of music 122 

The wonder-working Master 112 

The world's producing law was Primal Mind 19 

Thee, with the holy self-sprung Fount, we sing 73 

They who with Mary came 121 

Thou art blessed, O Lord, who nourishest me from my 

youth 18 

Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise 119 

'Tis dawn: to God I lift my hand 46 

'Tis the day of resurrection 115 

To Thee at evening gray 70 

To thee, O God, be praises 89 

Wafting Him up on high 157 

Wake, wake, I pray thee, shrill- toned lyre! 60 

Well-beloved and glory-laden 78 

What wilt thou possess or be ? 40 

Where are my winged words? Dissolved in air 57 

Who from the fiery furnace saved the Three 118 

With pain earth's joys are mingled 129 

Within the womb of Anna 169 



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